The Legend of Steven
by Violet-the-Hero
Summary: After a large tidal wave drags Steven and Connie into the ocean during an unusual storm, the two wake up on an unfamiliar beach in an unfamiliar world with an all too familiar threat on the horizon. Pushed to a T rating for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

The waves of the ocean rolled onto the sandy beach with more force than they would on clear days which today was not as storm clouds hung menacingly in the late afternoon sky. Sitting on the beach, counting the time between the flashes of lighting and the powerful thunder that followed, were two young kids, a boy with curly black hair and a girl with straight brown hair and pretty sun dress, a bit ironic since it was cloudy outside. The two sat just far enough from the waves that if a stray lightning bolt hit the ocean they wouldn't be fried. Definitely the girl's idea to do this.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…" they practically chanted before the crash of thunder shook the land.

"Its getting closer." the girl noted, largely in wonder as she saw another flash of lightning in the sky.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…." the boy began again before the next sound of thunder hit, "Yeah, I still think it's so cool that you can guess how far a storm is just from the thunder and lightning!" he smiled, "How does it work again?"

The girl took a brief moment to compose her thoughts before turning over to him "Well, for every five seconds that we count it means that the storm is a mile away."

"One, two, three, four, five, six….." he said after the next strike of lightning and the following thunder, "So it must be really close then, right Connie?"

She nodded in confirmation, "Right it's almost here." she said, "We should probably head inside actually."

He frowned, putting down the donut he had been chewing on in between counting breaks for the past few minutes, "Awww, but it's so nice out here, and like you said, it's at least a mile away right?"

"Yes but sometimes the wind may shift and it may come faster-" another bolt of lightning, "One, two, three, four, five…." she said, "And my mother would kill me if I caught a cold from getting wet from an unexpected shower."

"Okay, how bout we stay until it reaches three? That way we'll have a little bit extra time to get to the temple. Then we can watch Under the Knife if the cable doesn't go out. "

"Hmm, alright, but only till then okay Steven?"

"Okay." he smiled.

Behind Steven and Connie, up on the cliffs watching the two kids was three, rather unusual woman who seemed to be focused on the storm as well. The tallest of the three especially so as she didn't even turn her gaze away.

The second tallest seemed more concerned with the two kids, Steven mostly, "Shouldn't we tell them to come inside, that storms getting very close and I don't want Steven to get sick." she said.

"Come on Pearl, relax, what's the worst that will happen? Steven will get the sniffles?" the shortest laughed at Pearl's quite overprotective nature.

"Amethyst, Pearl may be right." the tallest said, her stoic appearance hardly breaking, "Something isn't right about this storm, and my future vision can't even tell what it is." she said.

"Is it broken or something?" Amethyst asked, a tone of joking still in her voice but the way she still said it still conveyed worry, Garnet's future vision didn't just _break._

"I don't even think that's possible, but it's not safe down there." she said, preparing to jump from the cliff as the lightning and the thunder hit at the same time now.

"That's it we're bringing them inside!" Pearl said as she went for the less dangerous way of getting down by taking the path already in the land.

The rain had begun pouring by now and Steven and Connie were already running to get to cover as a large tidal wave approached in the distance.

Garnet was not particularly worried about not reaching them in time as they were already almost up the cliffs but without her future vision she had no way of really knowing for sure or which outcome was the most likely, Pearl on the other hand was frantic as she saw the tidal wave picking up much too much speed for an Earth wave.

Before either gem could arrive however, Steven slipped on the rocks leading up the cliff and Connie in an effort to catch him was pulled down with him into the water of the wave that had come much faster than expected.

"Steven!" Pearl and Garnet exclaimed in unison while they watched the two get pulled into the sea.

Garnet only wasted that one moment of time on that word before diving into the water herself to look for him, fearing the worst yes but also hoping for the best as lightning and thunder continued to crash in the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

Steven walked on the beach that he had known his entire life, it felt so familiar to him and such as much a part of him as his gem was. This, along with his concern for her in general, is part of why he had taken returning the ocean back to earth from Lapis Lazuli was so important to him. Well, that and without the ocean all life on earth would die and things just would not be fun overall.

Right now though, the ocean was where it was supposed to be and lazy waves rolled on its surface and onto his sandals which he didn't really mind. The cool water was a major relief on such a warm day after all but he just didn't feel like going to the ocean was the best idea right now. He didn't really know why and so he continued his walk along it's shores finding it a bit odd that he was the only one outside on such a beautiful day.

Taking a turn away from the beach he headed into town which was also strangely deserted, "Did everyone go to a party and forget to invite me?" he wondered, even trying the Big Donut to find the doors locked and the delicious pastries trapped inside, "Hmm..."

Figuring the town was probably off who knows where he headed back to the temple and the gems weren't there either. This wasn't that odd in and of itself as the gems were always going on missions without him but this time, it felt weirder than usual. "Pearl?" he called out looking around, "Garnet!" he headed into the kitchen ," Amethyst?"

He furrowed his brow, "Hmmm…. somethings….not right….." he said to himself, not like there was really anyone to talk to. "Oh I know! This must be a dream!" he deduced, that would explain why everyone was gone, that or his party theory wasn't too far off.

"Alright, I just need to, need to wake myself up." he nodded, happy with himself for figuring it out, "Maybe if I jump into the ocean." he thought as he headed back outside, he had to admit, this dream was really accurate compared to allot of his other ones as far as locations. The walk to the beach did feel much faster though.

"Just gotta….jump in…" he said, looking at the water which seemed even more dangerous than before, it almost seemed to have a green tint to it.

"Just gotta...jump!" he said before diving in and immediately felt something was more than wrong, like something was physically crushing him.

Looking down, he saw a large hand around his waist that had a lighter tint than the water and as he followed the hand to the body he gasped, seeing Lapis Lazuli and the homeworld warrior Jasper's fusion Malachite scowling at him.

He gasped in shock and fear which allowed water to enter his mouth and the next thing he knew he was gasping for air while screaming. Sitting up from another sandy beach.

Still in a confusion from the nightmare he looked all around him and put a hand to his face, trying to calm down. Even though he knew it was a dream the fact that Jasper and Lapis together were a virtual time bomb under the ocean wasn't too comforting to consider in conjunction with it.

Thinking back to before the nightmare his gaze shot up again, "Connie!"

Shakily he got to his feet and while this new location seemed very different from his typical spot on the beach he figured the two of them couldn't have washed up too far apart from each other. "Connie where are you!?" he called out again, running along the shoreline and only partially noticing the large city in the background.

Finally after what seemed like hours to him but could only have been a few minutes at most, Steven spotted the familiar head of hair and boots that belonged to his friend who was still lying on the beach. "Connie!" he yelled running over to her and sliding to his knees to try and wake her up.

"Steven….?" she asked weakly, all his yelling helping to bring her back to consciousness.

"You're alive!" he cheered, hugging her tightly until she had to push him away.

"Not if you squeeze me to death." she said though the way she said it showed that she was only joking. She sat up a bit more and looked around, "Hey Steven, I don't think we're in Beach City anymore." she said, noticing the tall building and the large statue vaguely reminding her of the Statue of Liberty near by.

"Oh. Where we are?" he said, actually taking the moment to examine their surroundings, "I...I don't really know. We couldn't be too far from Beach City though right?"

"I don't think we would survive being adrift for us to be too far away but even so, I don't recognize this place, at all." she said, standing up and helping him to do the same.

"Maybe, maybe we should go and see if there's anyone who knows where we are." he suggested, turning back to the buildings behind them, somebody had to live there right?

"It's not a bad idea and maybe they'll have a phone so we can call somebody." Connie said.

"Then we'd better get looking." Steven agreed as they headed away from the beach and towards the buildings.

Connie immediately seemed very interested in the architecture of the buildings, "These, they seem like something along the lines of Asian origins, possibly ancient structures but they, they seem too recent for that. And those building in the city over there, they have a similar design but most are much taller than that time period would have allowed…." she was largely talking to herself.

"Ooh Connie look at this!" Steven exclaimed, only partially listening to her before running to an unusual sight of upright panels that seemed to rotate. "Hey Connie do you know what this is?"

She caught up to him and walked around it, "I...have no idea, well, it could be, based on how they rotate and the skuff marks on the ground that look a bit like footprints….maybe it's a kind of agility tester?"

He nodded his head, accepting her deduction, "That's so cool!"  
"Yeah but, it must be really hard to move around in it, the panels are so closed together, and how would you even get them to all move at once."

"Airbending of course." a girl's voice said from behind them causing Steven and Connie to both whirl around.

Now in front of them was a girl about their own age with long brown hair and pigtails put into buns who was smiling at them. "Airbending?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, Airbending, you know," the girl held her hand out in front of her and a small tornado appeared in it before she whirled in a circle before blasting air at the panels to make them all spin at the same time.

"How did you do that?!" Connie exclaimed while Steven just stared in amazement.

"Are you not listening, I told you it was Airbending, like how there's water bending, and earth, and fire." she said, "I'm Ikki by the way."

"I'm Connie and this is Steven but I really don't know what you're talking about still."

"Did you two bump your head or something?" Ikki asked.

Steven hopped in at this point, "No, well, maybe, you see, me and Connie were by the beach when a huge wave pulled us into the water and the next thing we knew we were waking up here which isn't the beach that we left." he explained.

"Well, what beach was it?" Ikki said.

"Ikki!" Another female voice called out as an older girl with shorter hair and unusual blue tattoos floated by the group, "Ikki I've been looking all over for you." she said, "And, not to be rude but who are you two?"

"They're names are Steven and Connie and they said they were washed onto the beach from….where were you two before again?" Ikki asked.

"Beach City." Steven smiled.

"Beach City…" the girl seemed to be trying to remember if she had heard of it before, "I'm not too sure where that is, but we have a map inside I'm sure you two could use, and if we still can't find it on the map we may be able to see if the police station in town can get in touch with your families."

"Yes that would be perfect! Thank you….I'm sorry what was your name again?" Connie asked.

"Genora, I'm Ikki's older sister." Genora introduced herself.

"Nice to meet both of you." Steven grinned, "So, where's the map?"

"Right this way, just follow us, and I think my dad would want to meet you too." Genora said.

"Great I can't wait to meet him!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, I'm happy to see that people are enjoying this! This idea that kept me awake for hours one night and that I had to write down so thank you!**

 **Also, I realized I had misspelt Jinora's name as Genora and that error will not happen from this point further, thanks!**

 **Oh, and regarding the unusual formatting towards the end of the chapter it's because I write first on google docs so when I put it it here it sorta messes with how everything is placed, I'm working on fixing that.**

Back inside of the buildings, it turned out that Jinora and Ikki's father was not presently there at the moment. According to their mother, the youngest sibling Meelo, had convinced their father to go spend time with him insisting that he only seemed to focus on Jinora or Ikki most of the time.

Their mother, as mentioned before, was there and after hearing about Steven and Connie's incident insisted on making them dinner along with her own children's.

"Being dragged into the water like that must have been awful." she said as she worked in the kitchen like area while Steven and Connie sat just close enough to be within speaking distance but not close enough to get in her way.

"It...wasn't too fun but we've dealt with worse." Connie said, "Thanks again for making us something to eat Mrs. Pema."

"You're welcome, it's a shame Ikki and Jinora couldn't join us though." she said as she returned with wrapped dumplings with little faces on them.

Steven thought they were absolutely adorable as he reached his hand out to pick one up, "What is it they had to do again?" Connie asked.

"As part of the New Air Nation they've been sorta like, peacekeepers along with the other airbenders for the past few years." Pema explained as she sat down with them, grateful that someone other than her own children or enemy soldiers were enjoying her dumplings.

There it was again, the mention of air-bending and again Connie felt completely confused, "This, may possibly be an odd question but what is air-bending exactly, I mean, we saw what it could do like those gusts of air Ikki used, but..I've never heard of it until now."

Pema indeed seemed a bit confused at the question , "Well, it's like water, fire, or earthbending, it's an extension of a bender that they use in order to move one of the four elements." she said. "I know the airbenders were gone for a while but you've really never heard of them?"

"Umm, I don't think we've really heard of any kind of bender before." Steven said once he finished one of the tasty snacks.

"Steven's right, it doesn't ring a bell at all." Connie nodded.

"You two must be from very, very far away then…" Pema assumed, "Because benders are from all over the world from the North Pole and back to the South Pole." she said, "Then again, we couldn't even find your town on the map either…"

 _Come to think of it no where on that map was familiar._ Connie thought before answering, "Yeah.."

"Hey, I'm sure the gems can figure out what happened to us!" Steven smiled.

"The who? I don't believe I heard you right?" Pema asked.

"They're, they're these three warriors who are like Steven's family. They were trying to help us when we fell into the water so hopefully they're already looking for us." Connie said, not wanting to reveal the fact of the gems being essentially alien rebels from another planet in the event her off the wall theory was correct. Based on the maps she had seen it may not be too off the wall after all.

Pema gave a nod, "Hopefully they'll be able to then but until you two can meet up with them again I'll see if you can stay here at Air Temple Island until.

"Thank you Mrs. Pema." Connie and Steven said as they finished off the rest of their dinner.

By then, a tall, bald, and tired looking man walked in behind a child who was the complete opposite who seemed to almost sense the presence of the two. "Intruders!" he challenged in a high and debatably annoying voice.

"No Meelo these are not intruders." Pema said in a voice that made it seem that she was used to his accusations.

"Then, who are they?" the man asked, not looking entirely sure about two kids himself, "They're not new airbenders are they?" he asked, the thought flying through his head though he knew it was an unlikely possibility.

Pema shook her head, "No, they washed up on the Beach and we couldn't find where they were from on the map either."

"Oh really? I'm sorry but what are your names?" he asked.

It seemed like the millionth time they had been asked that but Steven still answered with a happy attitude, "I'm Steven Quartz Universe and this is Connie Maheswaran." he introduced happily.

The man nodded, "It's nice to meet you too, my name is Tenzin." he nodded.

"It's good to meet you too sir." Connie said, "I hope we're not intruding."

Shaking his head he said, "No no, don't worry, we're happy to help those in need. That's a part of what the New Air Nation's mission is after all."

"Mrs. Pema told us, we actually were found by your daughters before they had to go off and do something like that." Connie said.

"Oh really, i hope Ikki didn't give you too much trouble."

"Nah, she just sorta blew air at those spinning things to show us what Airbending looks like." Steven explained, even mimicking Ikki's motions when she had demonstrated her abilities.

He sat down in one of the tables near them, "So I take it you have never seen airbending in person before then?"

"No sir, it was our first time seeing it." Connie confirmed.

"I suppose it would make sense, there haven't been too many airbenders in a long time and even though Harmonic Convergence helped to create new airbenders there's still not nearly as many as there once was." he said, Meelo had already run off by now accompanied by a lemur like creature.

Both Steven and Connie were only getting further confused at this point, "What, what was Harmonic Convergence?" she asked, hoping it wasn't a commonly known fact like apparently air, water, earth, and firebending was so that they wouldn't be thought to be completely clueless.

He did indeed seem to be surprised at the question and looked to Pema, "They really... aren't from around here." she said.

He raised an eyebrow at this, "Well, Harmonic Convergence was brought upon around 4 years ago when Avatar Korra re-opened the Spirit Portals at the North and the South Pole. This re-united the physical world with the Spirit World allowing humans and spirits alike to freely pass between the two. Also a result of this, non benders around the world awoke to find that they were now able to airbend and also thanks to Avatar Korra we were able to bring the Airbenders back from near extinction as before Harmonic Convergence my family was the only airbenders in existence." he explained.

Connie nodded as she and Steven began to process this, there were still so many questions to ask but Connie felt they were already raising too many suspicions. Of course she was not able to speak to Steven to tell him to do the same so he asked the one that had been on his mind since the mention of the airbenders being nearly extinct.

"What exactly happened to the original air nation?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't anything too bad even though he had a feeling he was probably wrong.

"They were almost completely wiped out some two hundred years ago as a result of Firelord Sozin who began a war in order to essentially take over all the nations…" Tenzin said. "My father was the last airbender and the current Avatar at the time but he avoided the genocide when he was frozen in an iceberg. For another hundred years he was like this and when he finally came out he and some friends he had made including my mother helped to put an end to the war that had been started all that time ago. They won the war in the end."

"I see…" Steven said, "But there's no such thing as a good war though.." he sighed, remembering his father telling him those same words.

"No there isn't." Pema agreed.

"I'm surprised you two didn't know about all this? I had believed most of the schools in all four of the nations had had some mention of the hundred year war. Where were you from again?" he asked them, his suspicions peaking that there may be something fishy going on.

"Beach City, or, at least that's where we were before we fell into the ocean." Steven answered.

"I don't believe I've heard of it." Tenzin said before looking back to Pema, "And you're sure you couldn't find it on the map?"

She shook her head, "No, we even checked some of the maps from before the United Republic was formed and even then…"

"Then it may possibly had a different name than the two of you know it by. It can happen

I suppose and Beach City does sound like too generic of a name for it to be it's real name. Perhaps in the morning I can help you look through landmarks and other nearby locations you may remember so we can figure out where you came from."

"In the morning?" Steven asked as he took a moment to look out the window and realizing the sun was already setting. "Oh, right in the morning."

"In the meantime then I'll contact Chief Beifong and hopefully she'll be able to get a hold of your parents." Tenzin stood up. "Pema, do you know if there's a room they could stay in for the night?"

She smiled and nodded before standing up as well, "Since most of the airbenders are off traveling most of the time I'm sure we can find a room. You two can come and follow me."

Steven and Connie nodded as they both got from their seats, "They you so much for letting us stay." Connie said as Pema lead them to the living area.

"You're quite welcome but fair warning, the beds aren't the comfiest things around." Pema laughed as she opened the door to a nice little bedroom.

"It's okay, i've slept on hay before it'll be fine." Steven assured her.

"If you say so, anyways, goodnight and if you hear noises later tonight it's probably Ikki and Jinora coming back so don't get worried."

"Okay, goodnight." Connie smiled as they went inside.

Steven immediately ran to jump onto one of the beds and immediately regretted it. It felt like a glorified rock, "Owwww….."

Connie couldn't help but laugh, "She did warn you."

"Why would someone make a bed that's not comfy….." he mumbled.

"They're supposed to be better for your back but I agree completely." she said, walking back towards the door.

"Connie, where are you going?" Steven asked.

She was quietly pushing the door, "Something really weird is going on here, you saw the map, there was absolutely nothing there that made sense." she said as she looked out into the hallway. "I was going to look for a library, maybe we could find some information there."

He jumped from the bed, "Then I'm coming with you."

"Alright just remember, we need to be quiet."

"Right, quiet." he said, drawing out the 'e' sound.

"Then let's get going."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there! This is chapter four and again, thanks to all who have been reading and enjoying it! I get really excited whenever I see a new follow, or fave, or review so thank you so much!**

 **Also! I feel like I should let you know that this story is intended to take place a year after the last book of Legend of Korra and after the Steven Universe episode Chille Tide. As this story was planned before Steven Bomb 3 was even announced I will be moving away from the events from after that episode. However, things that were shown about the gems such as Pearl and Garnet's fusion will be taken into account only introduced differently than what we'll learn in this Steven bomb.**

 **Thank you!**

* * *

Steven held his breath as he and Connie slinked through the halls of air temple island. Most of which lead to the outside where what seemed to be guards in blue and white outfits kept watch. This made getting from point A to point B, wherever it wound up being, to be very difficult especially since they had no clue if there even was a library on the island.

"Maybe we should had just asked them, they seemed nice enough." Steven whispered.

"Maybe." Connie said looking down another hall, "But it's a bit late to do that now I think, Tenzin already seemed to suspect something was off since we didn't know any of that stuff." she gave him the motion to let him know it was safe to follow.

"Right, but none of that stuff made any sense and even with the questions we asked I'm still lost…." he said while they tiptoed across.

She pushed them both behind a wall as she heard footsteps. Once they were away she nodded, "It didn't make sense to me either and that's why I want to find a library."

He nodded, "I figured that out sorta while we were walking." he said as he noticed a door not too far from them, "Hey, maybe we can check there."

"It's worth a shot." they made their way towards the door that Connie was relieved to find opened and happy to see plenty of books. "Here we go, nice eye Steven."

"I try." he smiled, walking into the little library, "So what exactly are we looking for?"

She was closing and locking the door behind them, "A history book would be a good start."

He nodded and began looking through the books, his serious face on but eventually getting distracted by something that resembled an ancient children's book about flying lemurs.

She was searching through the library and after going through multiple books with no luck she came across quite a monster of a book. "History of the World," she read out loud, it seemed to be something similar to a textbook for slightly younger students. "Hey Steven, I think I found something." she called to him.

He walked over to her, "Oh cool, can I see?" he asked, leaning over her as she held the book up slightly so he could read over her shoulder.

"It looks really old but, looking at the back of it some of the events seem recent from what Mrs. Pema and Mr. Tenzin told us." she said.

"Isn't there supposed to be like a publishing date or something?" Steven asked, remembering something his dad had told him even though it had been more about CDs than books.

"Good idea Steven." Connie smiled, flipping to the front of the book and reading the small print, "Err, it says, last updated… 180 AG, what does AG mean?"

"I don't really know but so long as we know what's inside it should be okay, right?"

She flipped through the book a bit more, "I suppose it'll have to do for now and at the bare minimum we shouldn't be too confused if they ask us anything else or about current events, maybe you can look for some newspapers too, those should be really recent."

"Okay." he nodded, walking off again before returning a few moments later, "Umm, where would newspapers even be in this place?"

"I'll help you look really quick then and while you look at those I'll look through the books." she said, she sighed, it was probably going to be a very long night.

Steven felt like he had barely put his head on the hard pillow before there was a knocking at their door for them.

"Breakfast is ready!" a friendly voice from the other side of the door called out.

Steven sat up yawning as Connie did the same, "Okay..we're coming." she said groggily as she tried to pull herself out of bed.

"Okay." they said and there was the sound of footsteps as they left.

"How late were we even up last night?" Steven asked, forcing himself to crawl from the rock hard bed that suddenly felt so comfy from the call of sleep.

She was getting her shoes on, "Pretty," she yawned, "Late I think, but there weren't any clocks so I don't really know for sure."

"Fair enough…" he got out of bed and fell onto the floor, now literally crawling to his shoes.

"You remember what I told you though, right?" she was heading for the door, shaking off her drowsiness as best as she could while she waited for Steven to get ready.

He nodded as he got up from the floor, "Yep."

"Good, now, we'd better get going to breakfast before they start wondering."

"Right." he said as they walked down the same halls they had snuck through the night before. He felt like his head was almost spinning from all the stuff they had crammed into their heads that night and the fact they had hardly gotten any sleep didn't really help either. Then there was Connie's theory that they had to take into account, well, by this point he figured it was more than a theory.

* * *

" _Steven." she had said after they had found the newspaper clippings from what seemed to be a few months ago. They talked of the Avatar Tenzin had mentioned defeating the would be dictator Kuvira, "There's something that's been on my mind since we got to this place."_

 _He looked up from the box of newspapers, "What is it."_

 _She paused a moment trying to put together the thoughts she had had in her mind all day, "None of the stuff in this place seems familiar, the dates are all weird and people here seem to have really unusual abilities, at least, unusual from what we know." she began._

" _Mhmm…" he nodded listening intently._

" _Well….I don't think we're in our world anymore. I think that whatever happened when the tide dragged us down….pulled us into another one?" she said, though she definitely seemed confused about it herself._

" _Like, another planet or something?" he asked._

" _No like, well, the best I can think of is maybe something like another dimension. I know it sounds crazy but scientifically it's not entirely impossible. Though, I just can't figure out why it would have happened because of us going into the water. I would think you'd have to be in space for it to happen."_

 _He wasn't incredibly knowledgeable about sciency things but based on some of the things Pearl had told him he did sorta believe it, "Maybe..maybe there was something in the water?"_

" _Maybe." she shrugged. "Anyways, we're definitely no where near home and if we're completely clueless about everything I think someone will figure out that we're not really from around here."_

" _So….what should we do?" Steven asked, gradually growing more and more worried though he was trying to not show it._

" _For now I say we blend in. That's part of the reason I had wanted to check for a library I mean, I've had that idea on me almost all day so I was trying to think of a way to know for sure and these books almost have me completely convinced. And if we can more or less remember the important things we find out if they ask us anything else we could just blame our cluelessness on the fact that we were tired from what had happened to us."_

" _Okay I think I can do that then but what about if they ask us more about us? I don't think it'll really make too much sense if I completely explain to them about the Crystal Gems and stuff."_

" _We'll figure it out but before we figure that out we should start studying and cram as much of this stuff as we can." Connie said, already going back to the book._

" _Sounds good." he nodded, turning to the newspapers._

* * *

Once they had reached the dining area, Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo along with Pema and Tenzin and the youngest of the children, Ronan, were already eating. "Good morning you two how did you sleep?" Pema asked as she noticed them.

"Alright, but like you said, those beds were so hard." Steven said.

"If you've been here awhile you get used to them." Ikki said.

"Hopefully you won't have to say too long though," Tenzin added, "I've already contacted Chief Beifong and she said that she could meet up with us later today."

Connie and Steven sat down next to each other, "Her mother is the legendary Toph Beifong right?" Connie asked, figuring now was a good time to try and show the new knowledge they had.

"Yes she is." Tenzin nodded, "She's just as good a police chief as her mother was too."

"Korra says she's just as grumpy too." Meelo laughed.

Steven laughed a bit too, "She's supposed to be a really cool metalbender too right?"

"Right again, after all, Toph was the one to invent metal bending in the first place."

He smiled to himself, happy that their studying had actually paid off even though he was still exhausted from it all, at least they could blame the bags under their eyes on the beds though.

After breakfast, Tenzin lead the two to a boat which was the only was off the island, well, the only way that wouldn't cause a bit of a traffic jam as the flying bison were a bit too large in the city.

Speaking of the bison, Steven had found them and the other hybrid animals to be one of the coolest things of this world and had admittedly been a bit disappointed when Tenzin had shot him down about the idea of riding them into the city.

So now, they were on the waters as they headed for Republic City and they were able to get a good look at the Spirit Portal that had been ripped in the center of it a year prior, "It's really pretty." Steven said, it reminded him slightly of the warp pads the Crystal Gems used, at least, it reminded him of the light they emitted.

"It is isn't it, in a way Kuvira did something good, even if it was small compared to everything else." Tenzin said, "You do know who she was and what happened or did you not hear about it from where you two are from?"

"Yes sir, we did hear about it, everything was sorta mixed up for us yesterday but I guess over the night we figured everything out again." Connie answered.

"That's an awful lot to forget don't you think?" he asked.

"It was always in our mind we just needed to remember it again, the water must've messed our memories up or something." Steven said.

Tenzin still didn't seem entirely convinced but nodded for now, "Alright then, hopefully you'll be able to remember your town's name soon then."

The boat stopped at the docks of the city and the three got off. Looking up at the vine covered buildings, Connie thought back to how the spirit vines came after Harmonic Convergence and expanded more into the city after the newest spirit portal had been opened. She still thought they were even more incredible in person.

"Watch your step." Tenzin said as they walked over the smaller of the vines and through the crowds, "The police station is towards the center of the city so stay close, we don't want you to get lost here."

"Right we'll be careful." Connie nodded, though, through all the crowds they slowly began to fall behind Tenzin and before they could call out for him to slow down they had lost him.

"Umm, Connie, where did he go?" Steven asked, looking around the sea of people but not spotting the tattooed bald head anywhere.

She was already looking around too, "I, don't know…" she admitted, "I think we may have lost him. But I'm sure if we ask where the Police Station is we can catch back up to him there."

He looked a bit calmer at her suggestion, "Okay, lets go ask one of the shop owners then."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again! Hope you guys enjoyed Steven Bomb 3 and let me tell you, a few new ideas were formed as a result!**

 **Also, the chapters for this story have…..less than awesome names as they're just going by numbers so I thought for the next few chapters there will be a sorta contest for you guys to decide what the chapter names will be called. This will include this chapter along with the previous four and for every chapter ahead so let me know!**

* * *

Thankfully, the first shop owner they met with, a nice pet shop owner who was happy to point them in the direction of the Police Station.

They would have been delayed however as Steven insisted on petting each of the animals that would let him.

"So what are you two kids doing out and about all by yourselves?" the shop owner, a wrinkled on man with a cat owl on his shoulder asked.

"We sorta got lost." Connie said, "And instead of wandering around with no clue we decided to just ask for some directions."

"It was Connie's idea- owww…" he said getting bit by a goat dog mid pet.

The shop owner nodded, "That's smart, it's not too safe to be wondering too long in the streets on your own recently, even during the daytime i'm afraid."

"How come?" Steven asked as he briefly licked his thumb of the wound. "Wasn't Republic City supposed to be one of the safest places."

"It is but, no city is without its faults I'm afraid and recently the different triads have been more active that they have in the past few years."

"Didn't those triads disband or something?" Connie asked.

He shook his head, "They were always there but I suppose with everything that was going on they just slipped further into the underground. Even now I don't know for sure if their up and running again as the only news about them is stories that pass between the stores and the streets. Still, it doesn't hurt to be careful and even if they are still gone it doesn't mean the streets are too safe to wander anyways."

"Well, thanks for the warning and the help." Connie said, "Come on Steven lets get going."

"Okay." he said following her, "Thanks again!"

"Anytime." the shop owner said as they left.

While they headed at a pretty decent pace towards the station Steven was trying to remember about the triads and while he remembered some of their names he still wasn't too sure what they meant, "Connie, what exactly is a triad?"

"Its' something like an organized gang and from what we saw in the newspapers there are at least three in the city but I didn't see much about them in the recent newspapers. Maybe like the shop owner said, they're trying to reorganize themselves."

"But this city is super nice and it has all those spirity vines and the spirits themselves, why would they want to cause trouble here? Or anywhere really, it's kinda mean..."

"I guess people are just mean sometimes." she said.

"Yeah…"

They continued to walk in silence for the next half hour or so, weaving in and out through the crowds that were particular full this time of day as many people were trying to get to their respective jobs and didn't really care to move for anyone in their way.

So that they wouldn't get separated from each other they even grabbed each other's hands as they made their way through, eventually having to duck into an alley to avoid being pushed into the street by the crowd. "Maybe we should stop for a few minutes." Steven suggested.

"That would be great, it wouldn't hurt to wait for the morning commute to slow down either." she agreed. "Though….we may do better to not wait too long so they don't get too worried about us, even though they probably are already."

"Right right, so umm, do you think the triads _are_ a danger for us right now, like, should we be worried about them attacking us or something?" Steven asked, the question or, more like worry on his mind since they had left the store.

She looked over at him, "I wouldn't worry about it too much, those triads or gangs or whatever usually operate at night and besides, what would they want with two kids?" she said, "So I say we're pretty safe, and you have your shield if anything goes wrong."

"Yeah and you have your awesome sword fighting too." he said.

"See, anything that comes at us should be worried about themselves, we're the dangerous duo." she said.

"Jam buds?"

"Jam buds."

Once they had rested and the crowds had gone down slightly they were walking again and the main building of the city, erupting vines and all was in sight but still a fair distance away, "We're almost there!" Steven cheered.

"Almost but the Police Station is still a bit further back."

"Well, we've made it this far, a few more blocks won't hurt."

She nodded as they had a new spring in their step that helped them to speed up across the streets.

Soon after this though they heard police sirens that were quickly approaching, "Hey, maybe they're looking for us?" Steven smiled but Connie didn't look as sure.

"I don't think so…." she said noting the red and gold car speeding far ahead of the noisey police siren. "It looks like the car that belongs to members of the Triple Threat Triad." she pulled him and herself further away from the edge of the sidewalk as it charged it's way down the road.

A rocky path formed by the police in front of the Triad's car and clearly these guys didn't want to be caught as they drove right into the sidewalk.

"AHHHHH!" Steven and Connie both yelled but thankfully Steven was able to bubble them both up before they ran over though the force of the car still sent the ball crashing against a building's wall and popping as a result. The car also was thrown back slightly and spun out of control eventually crashing as three Triad members jumped out.

"Hey guys…." Steven smiled a bit nervously as he and Connie sat up from the bits of wall that thankfully the bubble had protected them from. They would likely need more than a bubble to protect them from these guys who definitely seemed upset.

The head of this little operation turned two the other two, "You." he pointed at who seemed to be the water bender of the group, "Take the money and you, "he pointed to the earthbender, "Keep the cops busy I'm going to teach these kids a lesson and then I'll catch up."

The two goons nodded, running to do their respective jobs. "Now then you kids you're gonna pay for that."

Connie reach down for a long piece of wood that had broken off and pointed it at him as if it was a sword, "No you're gonna pay." she challenged.

"Yeah….!" Steven nodded after a bit of hesitation as he summoned his shield, Connie had told him to not reveal it unless it was life or death and he figured now was pretty close to that, or at least life or major burns.

The man looked rather surprised at the shield appearing out of no where but must have attributed it to being some sort of bending, what else could it be after all.

He lit a flame in his hands which he fired at them expecting it to be a quick fight.

Holding his shield up, Steven pushed his way through the fire quickly as Connie was one step behind him so that when they were close enough she could smack the man with the wood which only seemed to annoy him at the moment, bringing his leg up to hit her with a slash of fire.

Steven caught his leg with his shield causing the blast to shoot above them as opposed to directly at them, Connie used this moment to use the wood to unbalance his other leg.

It worked but only partially as the firebender was tripped but he managed to aim a blast at the presently unprotected Connie and before Steven had the chance to to move the shield to help her the fire had already burned the wood and the hand holding it.

She cried out in pain as she fell back but the bender wouldn't have had a moment to enjoy the brief victory as he had a face full of shield almost as soon as Connie had fallen, the hit effectively knocking him out.

Putting his shield away, Steven quickly ran over to his friend, "Connie are you okay!?" he asked, extremely worried.

She managed to sit up, "Yeah...I'll live it's just my hand after all, it really hurts though….."

Even though the police cars were rolling up now Steven didn't really pay attention as he licked his hand and touched her burns, hoping that by some miracle it would work, but as Pearl said, his powers were fickle and his dad lying about them working on his leg hadn't helped with that fact. "I'm so sorry Connie…." he said, crying a bit now.

She gave him a small smile to try and reassure him but soon the police were already by them and taking the firebender away as another was working on helping the two kids out.

"Are you two kids okay?" he asked, kneeling down to be at her level as he noticed Connie's injury, he nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you two some help."

"Thanks…." Connie said, Steven was still crying even as he and Connie were lead to different police cars. With Connie heading to the hospital, and Steven to try and explain what had happened.

* * *

 **Quick word, this chapter was supposed to be longer but as my internet and computer is having trouble it will instead be split in half, sorry about that**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 coming at ya and just a quick work on why these chapters have been popping up pretty fast, as you know, it's cause summer vacation is still going on here in the states and I have a lot of time as a result. When school starts up again they will get much slower so I am trying to reach chapter 10 before then to try and avoid too much of a cliffhanger when I do have to vanish next month. They will not stop completely, just more like a few weeks instead of a few days between chapters.**

* * *

Swinging his legs below him on the chair, Steven felt that they had been made for larger people than him as his feet didn't even tap the ground in the slightest. At the same time though, most kids weren't presently being questioned at a Police Station either.

"So you two had been separated from Tenzin for a while when you saw the Triple Threat Triad's car heading your way?" the metalbending Police Chief asked, a woman with short greying hair and a scar on her right cheek asked.

"Mhmm." Steven nodded, "Connie recognized the car from the newspaper and pulled us both from being too close to the road. Though...when one of the earth bending guys on your side tried to stop them they ended up, sorta driving towards us." he said, he had calmed down from earlier but still really wished that Connie could be here with him while he explained it.

"Right so if that car was speeding towards you two you would have been squashed, especially with how fast it was going while we were chasing it.'' she said.

"I got us out of the way in time so we we're squashed." Steven said, remembering how Connie didn't want him to reveal his powers quite yet. "When we had gotten back to our feet those bad guys were getting out of the car too and the firebender one wanted to beat us up or something while he had the one take some money and the other make a giant wall to try and keep the cops from coming." Steven explained.

"And for two non-benders you put up quite a fight against one of the most dangerous members of the Triple Threat Triad."

He nodded, "Well, I guess so. Connie had been training with one of my mom's friends who is now kinda like, one of my guardians and she's gotten really good at sword fighting. But since she didn't really have a sword she used a piece of wood instead."

"What about you then?"

"I used a trash can lid!" he lied, and lied pretty poorly at that, falling into the habit of raising his voice gradually, and sometimes not so gradually, when he lied.

She raised an eyebrow and Steven was left really hoping there was a trash can lid at the scene of the accident. "But it was Connie who did most of the fighting, I was more like the defense guy except at the end when I hit him with the lid after he burnt her..."

"That should do for now then." she said, standing up and walking to the door as Steven hopped from the chair and followed her out to where Tenzin and a boy who still looked like a teenager stood.

"Is everything okay Lin?" Tenzin asked.

"Yeah, we just needed to get a bit more information on what had happened with the Triad first, we can discuss getting the two kids back home after I've filled the reports." Lin told him.

He nodded, "Understood."

Once she left Tenzin turned back to Steven, "You're doing alright from after that incident?"

"Yeah, I'm just more worried about Connie to be honest though…"

"Understandable, she's your friend and I'm very sorry that I lost track of you two. I should've paid more attention." Tenzin apologized.

"It's not your fault, there was just a whole bunch of people that's all. We got lost quite a few times making our way here too because of all the crowds."

"Alright. And while we're waiting for Chief Beifong there's someone who I thought you should meet." he said, gesturing to the young man, "This is Mako, he's one of the head detectives here in Republic City and he should be able to help us get you back home."

"Hi! My name's Steven." he smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Steven, I heard you and your friend gave the Triple Threat Triad some trouble, that was pretty brave of you two." he said extending his hand which Steven shook, "Though, word for the future that may not be the best group to upset. I sorta speak from experience here." Mako said.

Steven nodded, "Okay, so, you're gonna help me and Connie get back…?" he asked, getting a bit worried as that may be slightly impossible.

"Yeah so don't worry. But it would help us out a lot if you could tell us more about you and where you're from in the mean time so when Chief Beifong gets back we can get straight to work." Mako suggested.

"Okay and have you heard about Connie?" he asked.

"My sister Kaya is helping to heal her arm so she should be joining us in a few hours or so." Tenzin said, "And mind if I join you two, I may have heard of his home during my travels with the Air Nation."

"That's fine by me, Steven?"

"I'm cool with it." he nodded, working back on the story he and Connie had figured out for them through his head again before he actually had to say it. "Are we going back to that room again though? I sorta feel like a criminal sitting in that chair."

"Don't worry, just let me grab a notebook and we can talk right here."

"Okay thanks." Steven smiled, sitting down in one of the waiting chairs until Mako returned.

"Alright then why don't you just try and describe to me where you live." Mako said upon his return.

"Well, as I told him, the town is called Beach City, or at least that's what we know it as. It's by the ocean and has allot of good restaurants like the Big Donut, which is really yummy." Steven said, really wanting a doughnut now. "And towards the end of the beach is this huuge cliff like thing sorta like a mini mountain with a carving of like, a giant woman on it that looks out towards the sea. And that's where I live." he smiled.

Mako was scribbling it down, making sure even the small details were noted but looked up as the carving was mentioned, "Well, if it's as big as you say it is that's a pretty good landmark to go off of, and you say you live at it?"

"Well, the gems, they're these warrior kinda woman, they and my dad built a little house in front of it for me so I could live with them full time so that they could train me and stuff."

"Train you?" Tenzin asked, "For what?"  
"My mom and the other gems, they were like, a group of warriors who protected our home from danger and stuff like monsters and things like that and my mom was their leader. Then she met my dad and they had me but….my mom sorta….died? when I was born so now it's her friends who are watching out for me and teaching me how to fight." he explained.

"I'm sorry to hear about your mother." Tenzin said, "But I'm sure she would be proud of you for fighting to protect your home."

"Right." Steven nodded.

"So, is that all you can tell us about where you're from though, I'm sure they're very worried about you by now and we need all the information we can get so that we can get you guys back home." Mako asked.

Steven looked down, really wanting to tell the truth but wanting to make sure that he and Connie both thought it was the right time, "Yeah, that's all I can think of right now, sorry about that but I'll let you know if I can think of anything else."

"That should be plenty to go off of for now thank you very much." Mako told Steven, "Can he and Connie remain at Air Temple Island for the time being?" he asked Tenzin.

"Of course they may. I'm sure Ikki and Meelo will be happy to have someone their own age around now that they know they're not a threat for sure."

Lin walked in again, "Thank you Tenzin." Mako said before walking away with Lin to discuss their plans.

"So, where is Connie right now?" Steven asked.

"As I said, my sister Kaya is helping her out on the island, she's one of the best healers in the world so she should be doing pretty well when we get back." Tenzin said.

"Then let's get going!" he said, eager to see how she was doing now that the pressure was mostly off at the moment.

* * *

Back at the temple, Connie had been with Kaya, the greying sibling of Tenzin who was presently bending water around Connie's burnt arm.

"So, it's not going to hurt too much is it?" Connie asked her.

"Don't worry, if anything you'll just feel it get really cold for a while." Kaya assured her, "So you got the burn from a Triple Threat goon?"

"Yeah, me and my friend Steven were sorta at the wrong place at the wrong time so when we defended yourself he managed to get a hit on me. Thankfully Steven managed to get him back for it."

"That is very good." she agreed, changing out the water and letting it cover her hands almost like flowing gloves. "I bet he wasn't expecting that."

She gave a small laugh, "I'm sure he wasn't." she nodded as Kaya's hands began to glow with the water.

"Okay, as I said it will likely feel very cold but it will help to speed up the healing process but it most likely won't completely heal your arm right away." Kaya explained.

"As long as it won't feel like I'm being burnt all over again whenever I move it I'm sure that'll be fine." Connie said as Kaya nodded and put the water along her arm, "You're right that is cold!" Connie exclaimed.

"I told you it would be and hold still please." Kaya instructed her as she kept the cold water around it for another few minutes and when she did pull it away her arm did not look nearly as bad as it had before but was still pretty badly burned none the less. "It'll be back a working before you know it just don't over do it."

"Thank you very much Ms. Kaya." Connie smiled.

"Happy to help. And if you don't mind my asking, how did you and your friend know enough non-bending fighting to beat that guy?"

"Well….the three woman Steven live with are really strong warriors who had been training him since he started living with them. One day, Steven suggested I asked to train how to fight with a sword and one of them, Pearl, she agreed to train me so that if something ever happened I'd be able to help fight too." she said.

"That's really cool of her to let you do. I'm sure your parents were happy to hear that."

"No...my parents would probably kill me if they found out what I was doing. They wouldn't think it would be safe at all and since they're all about safety me using a dangerous weapon would be a nono."

"So do they not approve of fighting in general or just you?"

"I'd say in general, my mom's a doctor so she doesn't really want people to get hurt and my dad's the same way but, when our home was being attacked Steven made it sound like the only way they had managed to survive was by fighting back."

"Attacked by who though?" Kaya asked and Connie realized that she may have given up slightly more information than she had intended.

"Oh, just some benders from another place, it wasn't like a full out war or anything but I wasn't even there at the time and even if I had been I doubt I could've done much considering it was before I got any training." Connie said.

"Well, if something like that was to happen again do you think you'd be able to help, to protect those you cared about."

"Actually, yes I do, sometimes when I was training I felt like I could take on an entire army by myself, or at a more reasonable level help to protect those I care about like you said."

"Then I'm sure if it comes down to it your parents would understand what you're doing is what you think is right."

"I sure hope so."  
 **-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 is here at last and I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks again to everyone who has been reading this story and supporting it it really means allot!**

 **As for how long this story is planned to be, I have quite a bit planned out and I was estimating it may be around 20 chapters or so but depending on the way things go it may end up being longer or shorter than that, we'll just have to wait and see I suppose~**

* * *

Steven sighed as he let his head fall onto the hard pillow and tried to go to sleep, the day had been exhausting both physically and mentally and all he wanted to do was go to sleep and forget it.

He didn't even have Connie to talk to right now as Kaya had insisted on watching her over the night as the burn may have been a bit worse than she had initially diagnosed and she wanted to ensure it wouldn't cause any permanent damage.

Her burn.

He shuffled under the covers of the bed, even though they had both been fighting side by side he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault in some way. He was the defense guy and the occasional shield in your face guy. He should have been more careful and because he hadn't been his best friend had been put in a lot of pain.

Feeling something run down his cheek he realized he was crying, something that he felt he had been holding in all day. Now that he could let himself cry he couldn't help wanting someone there with him to tell him that it was going to be okay, that Connie would be fine and that they'd go home soon. This place was nice yes, but he missed the Gems, he missed his dad, and Lion. Heck, he even missed Onion if only because he was from home.

All he could do now though was hope that by some miracle they'd find a way back or that this too was also a dream.

He felt like he was going to start sobbing soon so he tried to take his mind off of his friend and more to how the Police Chief Lin had assured him they would begin looking tomorrow, and how Ikki and Meelo had promised to show them around the island in the meantime.

He managed to calm down a bit as he thought of how fun it would probably be and trying to convince himself that things were going to be okay. To keep his mind further off the topic, he listened to the waves lapping against the island from the distance, loosely reminding him of home and how he did the same thing when he ever had trouble falling asleep.

And listening to them, he fell into a deep but uneasy sleep.

Opening his eyes to the pinkish light of a sunset, Steven felt his body bobbing up and down and once he looked down he saw himself floating in the ocean. It almost immediately clicked to him this time that this was a dream as he could see the Crystal Temple and the rest of Beach City from a distance behind him.

Still, this didn't keep him from trying to propel himself through the water towards the shore, pushing and pulling as he used all his willpower towards getting there.

But with every movement he did, the beach just seemed to go further and further away from him and above him, the sky was quickly shifting from sunset to moonrise much quicker than it ever should have. The moon and sickyl green color and almost looking like it was shattering into pieces above him. He wasn't able to look at it long though as he felt something grab his leg and yank him under the waves.

Initially panicking, he looked down at what was pulling him under, spotting what looked like a chain holding onto his ankle and pulling him down down down towards the bottom of the sea.

It took a while for him to realize that he didn't have to hold his breath and that he would just have to ride the dream out until it was over.

As he was nearing what looked like the bottom of the ocean he felt the force of the chain pull him down at a faster pace and towards and a dark object that he was pulled into.

Once there, he knew where he was, or, at least that he knew who was here as he wasn't entirely sure if the area existed in the physical world or just his dreams as he walked across the ominous landscape that was flat entirely and eerily green with dark green shapes around it, walking, his sandals caused slight splashes after he pulled off the chain himself. The chain splashing into the water like ground below him.

If he was here, then, then she may be here as well. Lapis Lazuli, the gem who had fused with Jasper in order to trap them both under the sea. He didn't really know why he still was able to connect like this mentally or how he was even doing this now as he was in another world entirely.

After his last time here, Steven knew why she had done it and her words then seemed to echo what Pearl had told him a week prior.

" _Just let me do this for you!"_

He remembered Lapis yelling that at him, she had wanted to protect him just like Pearl was trying to get Connie to be his knight to give her life in order to protect his.

Why did everyone want to protect him anyways? He always seemed to have to be saved or guarded by people and he just wanted to prove once and for all that he was strong too, that he was a Crystal Gem to and that he didn't need special treatment.

He heard noises of distress from nearby and his gaze shot up from his feet which he had been looking at. Boy was it easy to get distracted in dreams.

"Lapis!" he called out, running to where he had heard her voice and spotting her in the distance, "Lapis Lazuli!" she looked worse than his last time here, more beaten and worn from fighting this battle of hers alone.

"Steven! I told you to stay away!" she practically screamed at him, still focussing on the chains on her hands, "Go! I don't want you here!" she yelled making Steven pause in his tracks.

"Just go before I lose concentration...again." she said, her legs only shakily holding her up from being dragged under.

He was reaching his hand out towards her, but before he could reach her, or even say another word, he was falling upwards "I want to help!" he yelled as he resurfaced back to his bed in this world.

"Lapis!" he cried out sitting straight up in bed.

Breathing heavily from the nightmare, he pulled his legs up close to himself and started rocking slightly, if he had felt bad before going to sleep he felt worse now that he had seen another friend hurt like that.

"Pearl would probably know what to do.." he said aloud, "And, Amethyst would probably find a way to make it sound almost funny, then Pearl would get mad at her and Garnet would have to split them up." he said, trying to picture how the situation would be. It helped slightly but it also just made him miss them more. His emotions sure were going all over the place right now weren't they.

Hearing footsteps quickly approaching his room, he tried to slide back into his covers to pretend to be sleeping.

"Steven, are you okay I heard you yell." it was Jinora. Steven hadn't spoken to her much since they had arrived and he didn't really want to start right now, she seemed kinda bossy from what he had seen between her and her siblings.

He faked snoring to try and get her to believe he was asleep and that it wasn't him who had made the noise.

"I have three younger siblings, I know you're faking it." she said, "Is everything okay?" she asked again.

He turned around and sat up, "It's kinda dumb really, I umm, just had a nightmare…." he admitted wiping away the tears from his eyes.

"Must have been a pretty bad nightmare, I'm pretty sure you woke up the entire temple with that." she said, "What was it about?"

"My friend…."

"Connie? Steven don't worry she'll be okay I've seen people get back from worse."

"Not her….it was about another friend of mine."

"From back home?"

"Not….not exactly, she had sorta been trapped for a really long time and wanted to go home so I freed her. When she did get home though she said a lot had changed and before we knew it she was back again and a prisoner again...So when our home was attacked she, she did something really sorta...dangerous to protect us and now we have no idea where she is."

"So you're worried if she's alright then?"

"I know she isn't and this will probably be crazy but...I can sometimes speak to her in dreams but when I try to help her she tells me to go she doesn't look good…" he said, looking down.

She nodded in understanding, "It's not crazy, and it's not entirely unheard of. Sometimes if two people have a strong connection they are able to connect with each other like that."

"Really?" he asked looking at her.

"Yes and if you were an airbender like I am, some of us are even able to project our souls and hone in on someone we know energy to contact them by in times of trouble. It's come in handy for us in the past and I've even been able to search across large distances and even underwater." she said.

"That's really cool and would be great if I could do that to find her, and maybe find my way home too." he said, his gaze shifting down again.

She put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about this right now, everything will sort itself out and if you can't do anything about it at the moment, don't stress yourself. We all want to help you two out and we will get you both home. And if we can, find your friend too."

"Thank you Jinora." Steven said.

"You're welcome."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 which means that I should most likely reach chapter 10 in time before school starts up and hopefully when it does I'll be able to keep a weekly updating schedule at the very least.**

 **Thanks again for all the support!**

* * *

The morning after his nightmare which had made falling asleep afterwards, even after Jinora's talk, very difficult. By the time he had finally fallen asleep again his door had been knocked on furiously by the airbender kid Meelo and Ikki who really wanted to show Steven something after breakfast and wanted to make sure they'd actually have time for it.

Apparently they had grabbed Connie shortly before him because she had the same 'I was just rudely woken up for no reason' face on her. Her arm looked much better though, a tender reddish color from the burn but looking almost completely healed aside from that. When Steven had asked about it she told him that Kaya said it was doing really well now and would likely not scar, but would definitely hurt when she was older.

After breakfast, the two airbenders lead Steven and Connie out to the pavilion like area that Steven remembered as being the place he and Connie had met Ikki and Meelo when they first arrived.

"What did you want to show us again?" Connie asked looking around the area they were in.

"Welllllll." Meelo said, holding onto the 'el' sound for much longer than was necessary, " _I_ thought it would be fun if I showed you the super awesome moves of the airbender!" he said.

"But, we're not airbenders." Steven said.

"Everyone can learn something though right? Like, the forms and stuff aren't just exclusive to the benders and since you guys can already do cool stuff it could be fun." Ikki smiled.

Connie still didn't look all that sure herself about the idea but Steven was sorta warming up to it, after all, how cool would it be if when he saw the gems again he had learned new skills to help him out in missions. "I'm game." he grinned, "Where do we start?"

"Remember those gate things I showed you guys when you first got here?" Ikki asked.

"The ones you moved with your airbending you mean?" Connie added remembering how she had initially been confused by the ability.

"Right!" Ikki confirmed as she fired a blast of air at them, sending the gates whirling around all at once with just enough space between each of them to not crash into each other. "Well, these gates are used for airbenders to kinda, get a feel for airbending movement. The goal is to go through without getting hit." she explained to him.

"You have to be the leaf!" Meelo yelled, first letting a literal leaf pass through the gates and exit on the other side before he too, first letting a literal leaf go through the gates and exit before jumped through the gates to demonstrate it himself. Easily mimicking the leaf's movements and maneuvering his way through the gates' rotations and arriving on the other side, the gates still rotating but a bit slower now. "Easy."

Steven looked apprehensive again, "What happens if it hits me?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"It'll hurt but it'll toughen you up!" Meelo said in an almost drill sergeant tone as he shot another blast of air to get the gates spinning again, "Now be the leaf!"

"Ahh okay right!" Steven nodded, a bit surprised by Meelo's increased yelling but it did get him motivated at least as he jumped into the moving gates, trying and immediately failing to avoid being hit by them. The gates tossing him around like a rag doll and getting hit again and again whenever he bumped into one. It honestly felt like he was the ball in a pinball machine than a person who was trying to learn a new skill.

Eventually however, he reached the other side and while he had thankfully not broken anything he was still pretty dizzy, not to mention sore as he fell onto his face, "You make it look so easy…"

Connie ran over to him, "Steven are you okay?!" she exclaimed.

"Just a bit sore…." he said sitting up.

"Well, you made it too the other side at least." Ikki said, floating over next to them followed by Meelo, "That's more than some of the new airbenders when they first tried it."

"R-really?" Steven asked.

"Yep." Ikki nodded as Connie helped Steven up and looked over at the airbenders.

"Mind if I try?" Connie asked once she was sure Steven was fine.

Steven frowned at this suggestion, "What about your arm though? What if you hurt it, or something else?"

She seemed to consider that but shook her head, "Don't worry, like I said, my arm is doing much better now, I'll be fine." she assured him.

"Well, if you you think you can then let's do it." Ikki smiled.

"Okay, just, just be careful it's a lot harder than it looks." Steven said, still very much worried about her doing this.

"I will, now could you start them up again please?" she said, this time both airbenders firing into the gates.

Connie took in a deep breath as she approached the gates and briefly looked them over. Nodding to herself she slid into them, moving her body to avoid getting slammed by them as Steven had. Her training with Pearl, while helping her in combat seemed to do a good job at helping her here too as she was steady and swift on her feet. Through this and weaving her way in and out of them, she eventually found herself on the other side of the platform on which the gates were placed.

Already waiting for her on the other side was Steven, Ikki, and Meelo who seemed pretty surprised with her performance. "Connie that was-!" Steven had begun before he was cut off by another voice.

"Incredible!" Tenzin finished, walking towards them at the moment, "Was that your first time doing that?"

"Umm, yes sir." she nodded. "I had watched Meelo do it first and when Steven did it I kept track of his mistakes and tried not to do the same, I'm still sorta surprised that I didn't get hit though." she admitted.

He nodded, "It's still very impressive." Tenzin said.

"I made it across too just, got hit a lot along the way." Steven added.

"Not bad either," he said looking at his two kids, "But it still wasn't the best idea for you two to let them try something like that without supervision."

Ikki immediately pointed at her brother, "It was his idea."

"Hey! you were the one who wanted to show them this first, not me so it was your dumb idea!" he huffed.

Tenzin turned back to Steven and Connie, "Anyways, the reason I came over here was to let you know that Mako is already working on getting you kids home. He says he may already have an idea on where it is based on what you told him yesterday."

"Oh, umm, that's good, that's great!" Steven smiled, forgetting briefly that no lead Mako found would get them back. "So...we just uhh, stay here for now then?"

"For now you two are still of course free to stay at Air Temple Island." Tenzin confirmed, "And just be careful about what Ikki and Meelo try to get you to do."

Steven rubbed his elbow which was one of the many parts of him that was sore now, "Point taken."

"Then I'll be going then, oh and one more thing." he added, "We got a letter from Korra, Asami, and Bolin."

Ikki was quickly interested, "Really?! What did they say?"

"They'll be arriving in Republic City in a few days to visit. They've been helping Prince, or should I just say Wu, in reforming the Earth Nation."

"Korra is the present Avatar right?" Connie asked.

"Right, and for some time Republic City has been her home though she hasn't been here too often in the past few months as her and some of her friends have been helping to move the Earth Nation from a Monarchy to a Democracy." Tenzin explained.

Steven nodded, "I remember reading about that in the newspaper I think, didn't that Wu guy decide to be a singer or something instead of the king?"

"After Kuvira's time in charge he did make the decision that it would be better for the Earth Nation to have separate states which ruled themselves, though, I'm sure his singing career was a small part of the decision as well."

"Forget him, Korra's coming back!" Meelo cheered in excitement, hopping onto to an air scooter that he flew around on for a few moments.

"Did she say what day?" Ikki asked, also excited but doing a slightly better job at hiding it even though she seemed to be jumping up and down ever so slightly.

Tenzin shook her head, "No, she just said they were on a boat coming from a town a short distance from Omashu so it may still be some time before they get here." he said, "You two may hopefully be in touch with your families by then and if not I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you two."

"So, we might be able to meet the Avatar herself?" Connie asked, her time spent learning about her that night they had needed to do a crash course in this world making Connie want to meet this legend during their time in this world. Though she didn't really think that it would have been likely for them to cross paths initially it seemed a bit more likely now.

"Possibly."

"That'd be really cool, she's done so much as the Avatar and it would be an honor to meet her in person, books and newspapers can only tell you so much about the actual person." Connie said.

"That is true too I suppose but I suppose even if you two are home by the time they arrive I can let her know you two wanted to meet her. She's fought with the Triple Threat as well and hearing that you kids were able to defeat one of their stronger members she'd probably be impressed."

"Thank you sir." Connie smiled.

"Then I will leave you all for real now, just please be careful." Tenzin warned, walking away back into the buildings.

By now, Meelo had calmed down, at least, as calm as Meelo could be, "You ready to try it again?" Meelo asked Steven and Connie once his dad had left.

"Umm, I think i'll pass, that thing kinda hurt a bit…" Steven said.

"I think I'll pass too, even if you're not getting hit by those things it's still pretty tiring over all, especially since we're sorta tired from yesterday anyways." Connie said.

"Awww, are you sure?" Ikki asked.

Steven and Connie both nodded, "Maybe we can do more tomorrow." Steven suggested seeing Ikki's face at them refusing.

"Well...okay!" Ikki nodded, "Maybe tomorrow I can show you my super secret technique."

"It's not a secret if you're always telling people!" Meelo countered.

She stuck her tongue out at him in the way that siblings tend to mess with and tease each other, still, it let to a face full of wind for her, "Meelo!" she yelled, chasing after him.

"Wanna walk around the island for a bit?" Steven asked when they were gone. "I...sorta wanted to talk to you about something kinda important."

Watching the kids leave she nodded, noticing how his expression had gotten serious. "Sure, maybe we can walk around the beach."

"Okay."

* * *

Once they had reached the beach, Steven and Connie check to make sure that there were no unwanted ears around to listen to their conversation. They wouldn't want anyone to find their secret out before they were ready to say it themselves after all.

"So then Steven, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Taking in a breath he began, "Remember…. like about a week before we ended up here I told you about that night where I kept having dreams about Lapis?"

"Yeah, you said that she was having trouble holding Jasper down, and that, some how you were contacting her mentally for some reason."  
"Mhmm, and on the first day we were here, I guess while I was still knocked out from being under the water, I had another dream where Malachite grabbed me before I woke up." he said, "And just last night while you were with Miss Kaya, I had another dream, and this time, this time I talked to Lapis herself again."

Connie looked surprised, "What did she say?"

"She told me to leave her alone again but she looked much much worse than the last time I had seen her, I think Jasper is wearing her down. She, she doesn't look like she can stay in control for much longer…."

"So you think Malachite will resurface soon in our world?" Connie asked.

"Sorta...I, was thinking, if I'm able to see her in dreams here, in this world. Maybe they're not in our world right now either." he said. "When we ended up in this world it was when we fell into the water right? Maybe they ended up here too and are in the water somewhere in this world."

She thought on it for a moment, "But if they _did_ end up here some how like we did, that could mean that there's a portal or rift or whatever in the water to get us back!" she said before she noticed Steven's silent glance of worry, "It could also mean that if they do resurface here….it could be a real problem for the people in this world."

"The people here could probably put up a good fight and beat them but then something else could happen. They could be stronger than we know since Lapis pulled them under before we saw them fight so what if they're too much to handle." Steven said, "At the same time...they could be weaker and their gems could be broken, then they'd be gone forever…."

"You're worried about a lot of different things then." she said.

"I am and I just really wish that it wasn't just you and me having to handle it alone…" he said looking out over the waters and trying not to imagine a giant monster coming out of them.

"Hey, we still got each other though right? I'm sure we'll figure something out and maybe tonight you can try and talk to her again, and maybe really push to get her to tell where they are." Connie said.

"But she always pushes me away…"

"She's trying to protect you but she needs to know that friendship and protecting someone you care about goes both ways." Connie said, "Like how you and I worked together because we both wanted to protect each other."

"Right, maybe I can make her see that too." he said, "I'll try it tonight then, and thankfully you'll be there this time right?"

"Yeah, Kaya gave me the all clear remember?"

"Oh yeah, so I guess it's more or less a plan?"

"I guess so."


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter was honestly one of the ones I was really excited to reach as it had been in my head early on, there are quite a few changes as opposed to it's original planning but they're for the better I think. It's also a chapter that i felt I needed to completely rewrite in order to get in right so i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Long after the majority of the inhabitants of the Temple had gone to sleep, Steven and Connie were sitting on their respective beds, the only light entering the room being that coming through the window from the half-moon and the lights of Republic City.

Steven was already yawning by this point and was having quite a bit of trouble staying awake, "Should I start…" he yawned, "Now?"

Connie, who looked very tired as well, nodded to him, "Yeah, I think everyone is asleep by now. I'll make sure to cover for you if you wake up yelling again." she said.

"Okay, I just gotta, find Lapis and get her to talk, simple enough." he said laying onto the bed that had gradually gotten much less uncomfortable with each night.

"Good luck." she told him as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep soon after.

* * *

Blinking his eyes in his dream, he woke up not in the sea or on a beach or in Malachite's Realm either, instead, he woke up at home in the Crystal Temple back at Beach City.

Quickly looking around and expecting to find everyone to be missing as had happened the last time he had dreamt of this place he was pleasantly surprised to see Pearl and Garnet talking in the kitchen.

"Garnet, Pearl! I'm so glad to see you!" he exclaimed, running up to them but only passing through them.

The two gems didn't notice of course as Pearl spoke with Garnet, "It's just, we've been looking non-stop for days and we haven't found anything, even your future vision isn't able to point us in the direction we need to go. So, what if that means that they're…."

Garnet put a hand on Pearl's shoulder, "We'll find them but giving up hope isn't going to help. We need to stay focussed and not let our worries overcome our reasoning." she said, "We are going to find them." she repeated, seeing that Pearl seemed on the verge of crying.

"Y-you're right! We can't give up, there has to be some place we haven't looked after all." Pearl said. "And Amethyst isn't back yet, maybe she's found something."

Also as soon as she said that Amethyst was returning on the warp pad, looking very much defeated and out of her usual laid back nature as she walked down it's steps.

"Did you find anything?" Pearl immediately asked, running over to her.

Amethyst sighed, putting her hand behind her head, "Well, not exactly…." she said as a pink lion with a mane a lighter shade of pink walked down the warp pad as well. "I found him sniffing around the water near another one of the warp pad's quite a way's from here. I thought maybe he, smelt them or something under the water so I shape shifted to check but I couldn't find anything." she said. "But for some reason he insisted on following me here, he must miss them too I guess."

Pearl seemed disappointed at this of course, she had never really liked Lion but if anything he had always seemed to know where Steven was.

Even now, Steven felt like Lion was staring straight at him. Though, how could this be possible, he was in a dream, and in another world as well. Still, when he moved around to look out the window to check for any weird dream stuff Lion's eyes followed him.

"What in the world is he looking at?" Pearl wondered, noticing Lion's gaze shifting and following an unknown object, to the gems at least.

Amethyst shrugged, "He's weird remember, I don't even think Steven gets him."

"I suppose you're right…" Pearl said, still watching Lion. "Anyways, Garnet, is, is there any where else we can check right now?"

"Yes, we can split up again to cover more ground." she said simply, "And even as we look for them we can't forget that Jasper and Lapis Lazuli's fusion is still under the water as well."

"I had almost forgotten about them." Amethyst huffed kicking at the floor.

Pearl seemed to have forgotten as well, "That's right isn't it…" Pearl said, "For all we know Malachite could already be making her way up to the surface. And given how long they've been fused, and the circumstances behind their fusion they may have, lost, themselves by now.."  
"They may no longer have control at all." Garnet nodded, "Their fusion's personality could have completely taken control by now."

Steven looked back to the conversation hearing that part, "But...I talked to her just last night...they can't have fallen completely into Malachite, could they?" he asked himself, wishing to speak with them directly instead of just listening in, he had a feeling this was more than a dream by now which meant what they said had very real meaning than a random dream.

He walked closer to hear more and Lion's eyes and head followed him, "Hey Lion." he said, not expecting any form of reply but getting a head nod in response. Steven caught his response and wanted to ask another question to confirm this but as the gems had continued their talk about Malachite the greenish water had begun to fill the world around him. The gems didn't notice as it enveloped him and swept him out the front door and into the sea.

Floating around under the water with now way of moving for what seemed like ages for him in the way dreams seem to extend time, Steven tried to go back to his initial goal of finding Lapis again and thankfully, in time it worked landing him back in that now familiar landscape.

"Gotta find Lapis, gotta find Lapis." he repeated to himself, running as fast as he could along the shallow water like floor. "Lapis Lazuli! Where are you?!" he yelled, having absolutely no luck for the longest time.

Finally, he spotted something rising out from the waters. When the shape was too large to be Lapis, he felt fear hit him assuming that Jasper had finally taken control of the fusion.

But it was neither as he watched in horror as Malachite herself, albeit slightly smaller as this was her mindscape.

"M-Malachite….?" he asked, still having to look up at the gem whose head turned to face him.

Her expression seemed to slip between multiple emotions before finally landing on anger that seemed to be aimed at him at the moment. "You!" she yelled, charging towards him.

In response, he quickly changed his own running direction, nearly tripping from the sudden movement but managing to keep from doing so as he ran from the angry fusion, "Gotta wake up, gotta wake up, gotta wake up!" he now repeated as Malachite laughed from behind him.

Right as she was going to grab him though, he felt the water around them rising and pulling him right back up towards the surface, his dream turned nightmare not quite over yet.

When he resurfaced, he briefly saw an ash covered island with smoke rising from one of its peaks. The last thing he noticed, was that the island seemed to have a shape to it, like, a crescent moon.

* * *

Gasping as if the water he had been in was real, Steven sat up from his pillow, trying to catch his breath.

"Steven!" she exclaimed initially before covering her mouth and speaking in a more quiet voice, "What happened? Did you find Lapis?"

"Umm...yes, and well, no…" he said, trying to recall the memories of the dream, "First, I was back at the temple and I saw Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst talking about looking for us, and Lion was there and for some reason he could see me but the others couldn't but I heard them talking about Lapis and Jasper, how they may be losing themselves or something. When I did reach where they were though, neither of them were around, only Malachite was and she attacked me."

"So, what does that mean, have they, does that mean they've both lost control to their fusion, to Malachite?" Connie wondered.

He nodded sadly, "I think that's some of what happened, remember Sugilite, well, when she was fused for a really long time she stopped being Garnet and Amethyst, she became something else and I think that's what's happening."

"Does that mean that they can't unfuse now?"

"No I think they still can but, they're not Lapis, and they're not Jasper and if they get to anywhere where there's people…" his voice trailed off trying not to think of that.

"Did you at least find out if they're in this world or not?" she asked.

He thought back to the island, "I saw an island, I don't know if it was from our Earth but it looked really, kinda important, I think it's above wherever Malachite is so I guess if we check the maps and find it here, we would know for sure."

"I guess it's too the library again." Connie said, "But we need to be fast, it'll be morning in a couple hours and now would be a very bad time to get caught."

"Then we should go look." Steven said jumping from the bed and heading to the door followed by Connie. The two of them following the same sneaky path they had their first night but now making much better time.

The library door was still unlocked but glancing inside, Steven saw one of Tenzin's kids, Jinora, reading inside. Connie looked in after him and while both initially felt panic, Connie being the quick thinker she was walked right inside, "Oh, hello Connie it's a bit late isn't it?" Jinora asked.

"Yes well, Steven and I were having trouble sleeping and wanted to ask to read a bit in here." she said, the lie was believable enough and since they both looked exhausted from staying up for the dream their faces helped the story as well.

"Of course you guys can, the library is open to everyone though, the majority of the books relate mostly to the Air Nation or history." Jinora warned.

"That's just fine." Connie said, already knowing this but of course not wanting to reveal that.

Steven was walking to the books now, "Thank you Jinora." he said, heading to the books he had checked before.

Connie went to the area of the history books and flipped through them, a map was fairly easy to spot even if you were just to glimpse through them. Eventually, she found a map of the world but waited for Jinora to leave before showing Steven. Apparently the young airbender herself hadn't realized how late it really was and had hurried to bed.

"So you found it?" Steven asked sitting next to Connie.

She spread the map out on the floor, "I'm pretty sure, look it's fairly recent too I think since it has the United Republic." she said, "What was the shape of the island again?"

"It was like a crescent moon." he said, "With a volcano I think."

"Then it would probably be in the Fire Nation." she nodded, quickly scanning the smaller islands in the Nation.

To the east, she saw a very small landmass that was literally labeled, 'Crescent Island.' "How convenient…Is this something like the island you saw?"

Looking at it closely he nodded, "I think so."

"I, may have read about that somewhere… if only briefly." she said, thinking and looking back to the shelves of books when it clicked, "If I remember correctly, Avatar Aang was there at one point, then when the volcano erupted in became abandoned from all the lava and the ash."

"There was definitely ash, and smoke but I didn't see much lava." Steven said.

"It's been seventy years, it may already have stopped or it may start and stop every so often. Regardless, it's definitely in this world which means they must be here too."

"So, what does this mean exactly?"

"We, we need to know for sure, and that means we need to find some way to Crescent Island…"

* * *

 **I was eager to do this chapter mostly because it's when stuff starts to get set into motion, I hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I officially made it to my goal before school was to start! I also have quite a bit more time until school officially starts which means I will probably be able to get through quite a few more chapters (hopefully) before I go back.**

 **As for this chapter in particular, well, just keep reading.**

* * *

Steven and Connie were some of the first people in the dining hall the next morning, being as late as they had returned to their rooms the previous night, neither had really attempted going back to sleep.

Besides, they needed to figure out a way to Crescent Island as soon as they possibly could and while Steven wanted to tell the truth in order to get them there, Connie had insisted that no one would believe them if they were to say that a dangerous enemy made of rage and hate was rising from the bottom of the ocean.

It was an excellent point as even though weird things had certainly happened in this world in the past, how would anyone believe that Steven and Connie knew about another event before anyone else? The simple answer was that no one would.

"How are we even supposed to get there?" Steven wondered aloud, quiet enough so only Connie would hear him as he picked at his food.

"Don't worry Steven, I'm sure we'll find a way." she said, "Hey, maybe we can fly on one of those sky bison to get there….but...I'm sure someone would notice, and how do you even fly one?" Connie said.

"There are plenty of boats too, and, it doesn't look like the island was _too_ far from here." he suggested.

"Again, I'm pretty sure someone would notice, and neither of us know how to operate a boat."

"Maybe, maybe I could bubble us and we could roll over there through the bottom of the ocean? But then they'd see us and attack us if we got too close." Steven pouted, "We're never gonna get there are we?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder, "Get home you mean?" Pema asked and Steven almost fell from his chair in surprise and worry that they had been overheard.

"Y-yeah, get back home..sorry I didn't hear you behind me. " Steven said.

"I didn't mean to startle you but don't say that you'll never get back, there are plenty of people willing to help you two out to get you home." Pema smiled.

Connie nodded, "We know but I, guess we just really miss our families and they miss us too." she said, that part definitely true.

"Well, remember, if you two remember anything important about home to let us know, that way you can get back and be with them again." she said, turning to leave.

With that, Connie had an idea, "Actually Mrs. Pema, last night we did remember something about an area near our home."

Pema turned around while Steven was still trying to figure out what Connie was doing, "You did, well we need to find Tenzin right away then so he can tell Lin." Pema said and Connie stood up, motioning for Steven to do the same.

"Yes ma'am." Connie said, "Me and Steven will run and look, do you know where he would be?"

"At this time he usually is meditating in the pavilion with the Air Acolytes." Pema answered and Connie was already out the door with Steven.

"Thank you!" she said as they ran. "Okay Steven, just go with what I say okay?" she said, slowing down a bit before they reached the pavilion, "We're going to get our ride."

Tenzin, sure enough seemed to be finishing off the meditation session along with Jinora and a few of the Air Acolytes who were starting to get up now.

"Mr. Tenzin!" Connie called out once they were completely done, her sudden yelling seeming to throw off the airbending master briefly.

"Steven, Connie, what happened is everything alright?" he asked as he looked over at the approaching kids.

"We think we have an idea of where our home might be." Connie said.

"You do? That's wonderful." Tenzin said.

Jinora nodded in agreement, "Did you two get the idea when you were in the library last night?"

"Umm, yeah, we saw a place that looked sorta similar to an island that's near our city and we think it may, sorta be near by." Steven said, starting to figure out Connie's plan.

"Where is it exactly?" Tenzin asked.

Connie briefly thought trying to remember the island's exact location but realizing that Tenzin would probably know the island if his father had been there, "Cresent Island in the Fire Nation, it's not too far from here though I don't think it's inhabited right now our city was around the area there."

"And you just remembered this now?"

"Like we said, we saw it in the library and it helped to jog our memory." Steven said.

"Odd, I don't believe there was too many inhabited places near that area of the Fire Nation..are you positive that's where you're from?" Tenzin said to which they nodded, "Do you possibly know if we can reach them through the radio?"

"No sir." Connie said, "We never really use radios for talking over there so it may be best if we head there directly instead." she added, the radio thing wasn't exactly a lie though.

Tenzin didn't seem so sure about this idea, "And you are sure that this is close to where you're from?" he asked again for confirmation.

"Well, even if it isn't, Crescent Island is not all that far from here like Connie said." Jinora cut in, "We could just fly over and see if you guys see any more familiar places and if not we can fly right back."

Connie smiled, "Pleaser sir, I'm almost sure that that's the place and we really just want to know for sure."

Tenzin sighed, "Alright, we can fly on Oogi, the trip there and back should only take a few hours but I'll go ahead and let Pema and the others know just in case." he said walking away, "We'll leave in about half an hour."

"Okay." Steven and Connie answered.

"You guys may be going home soon, I'm really happy for you." Jinora told them, "And flying on Oogi will be really fast too, I'll ask if I can go with you guys on Pepper."

"Umm, who are Oogi and Pepper?" Steven asked.

"They're me and my dad's flying bison, they're our life long friends and the original airbenders." Jinora explained, "They're super nice too so I'm sure they'll like you."

Steven was smiling quite a bit now from excitement, "That's so cool!" he said, yes he remembered reading about them in one of the children's books but he didn't think he would be able to ride one while they were here.

"So, flying there we should reach the island pretty fast right?" Connie asked, excited too but also eager to get there in order to see if the dream held truth and if Malachite was rising from the ocean soon.

"Right but it'll still be a few hours so I'd suggest you guys get whatever you need before hand." Jinora said with a smile, "I'll see you guys in a bit." she said leaving them as well.

"I guess we're going to be getting to the island after all, and flying too!" Steven smiled, "But...what are we going to say if we find nothing there? It's not like Beach City really if there after all."

Connie looked at him, "Honestly Steven, I'm more worried about what we'll have to tell them if we do see Malachite there."

* * *

Within half an hour the group was up in the sky and flying across Yue Bay, above Avatar Aang's statue as they left Republic City and set off across the Ocean.

Flying for Steven, was even better than he had pictured it in his dreams, the wind passing past him as they went through the air on the two bison. Though, with the creatures being as large as they were there really would have only been need for one to make the journey. Still Jinora had insisted on coming saying that it would also be good exercise for Pepper and that she had wanted to see the island herself even after being told there wasn't much left.

For Connie, riding in the air like this was slightly terrifying even with the saddle that Oogi wore, she felt like she was always moments away from falling to her death into the sea. A large part of her regretted that they hadn't stolen a boat instead but she had to admit, flying would be faster.

"This is even better than riding Lion." Steven smiled, the wind making his hair go all over the place, "No offense to Lion though." he added.

"Who's _Lion_?" Tenzin asked.

"He's like, kinda like how Oogi is for you, he's one of my best friends and he's a Lion so his name is Lion." Steven explained.

"You have a Lion for a pet?" Jinora asked, having to shout a bit given the distance between them. "Isn't that sorta unsafe?"  
"He's not really a pet he just sorta, does his own thing most of the time, he does seem to like to help us though." Steven said. "I think he knew my mom or something since he seems to know where she kept some of her stuff."

"Perhaps she left him for you." Tenzin commented.

"Maybe." Steven shrugged, the idea never really occurred to him before but he now realized that it could be likely too. Lion had saved him plenty of times so maybe Rose left Lion to watch Steven once she was gone.

"Hey, once we get there maybe we could meet Lion too." Jinora said, "Though, I don't think Pepper and Oogi would be too comfortable around him."

"Good point." Steven laughed, "And uhh, about how far are we still?" he asked, noticing that Connie was clinging onto the saddle.

"It'll still be another hour or so so just hang in there." Tenzin replied.

Steven nodded, "You doing okay Connie?"

"I'll be fine it's just, we're going kinda fast, and we are kinda, high." she said, still looking pretty nervous about being up here. "But don't worry, the good thing is we'll be there eventually? And when we do get there we'll see for sure if we were right."

"Okay well, just let me know if you're not alright." Steven said as he looked back over the waters again, looking as far as he could back and forth through the ocean.

The time passed rather slowly and Steven lost the initial thrill of flying through the sky, it was still amazing but now he had to be the serious one and check the waters for Malachite.

He was starting to relax, hoping that since they had yet to see the fusion that maybe she was still stuck at the bottom of the ocean.

These same hopes were no sooner dashed when the island came to view, even before the island came to view actually as he noticed from a distance what looked to be a whirlpool forming in the waters. "Connie!" he yelled, pulling her over while Tenzin and Jinora just looked over and dismissed it.

"Nothing to worry about, whirlpools form from time to time around these waters." Tenzin assured them.

Steven and Connie looked at each other, not believing this to be the case for one second as they turned their gaze back to the whirlpool, the striped body of Malachite reaching a hand out towards the sky. The fusion using the force of the water to push herself the rest of the way out.

The bison seemed to realize the danger immediately as they slowed down and tried to move in another direction.

"Oogi calm down, it's just a spirit, they're not going to bother with us humans." Tenzin said, petting his bison's head while Jinora did something similar.

For now at least, Malachite had yet to notice them as she propelled herself in a random direction, searching for some sort of landmass Connie guessed and given that they had already been pretty close to Crescent Island she had a good guess as to where their first stop would be.

"See, they're perfectly harmless but they do seem to be quite powerful." Tenzin observed.

"She, she seems to be going in the same direction that we are too." Jinora said, watching Malachite, she didn't feel that they were a spirit though, not feeling any of the spiritual energy around them as she normally would, "I don't think it's a spirit." she quickly added.

"That's because they're not!" Connie said shakily, jumping forward along with Steven.

"We can't let them see us!" Steven yelled.

Tenzin looked confused and rather flustered, "What are you talking about? What else could they be?"  
"It's a long story but please just trust us and get us out of here!" Connie said, they had found that Malachite really was here yes but she didn't want them to be spotted and lead her back to the city.

"But what about getting you two home?" Tenzin said, Malachite reaching the island before them climbed onto it, looking quite large now that they were able to see her on an actual landmass without the distortion of the ocean.

"Don't worry about that now please we're sorry we lead you here but we need to go now!" Connie yelled, catching Malachite's attention now that they were close enough to be heard.

Her four eyed faced turned to face them and contorted in rage but thankfully not recognition as she extended her hand to try and swat the bison out from the sky.

"Dad we should listen to them!" Jinora yelled, barely evading the swat.

Tenzin still had questions based on what Connie had yelled but his daughter and the kids were right, whatever this thing was it was not friendly and they needed to get away from it as soon as possible. He could questions later.

"Hold on!" he yelled, pulling at Oogi to lead the bison away from the island as fast as possible, Malachite pulling up an arm out of water as a last attempt to grab at least one of them before they escaped.

It was close but she only grabbed air as they flew away.

"What was that?!" Jinora called out at Steven and Connie when they were a decent distance away.

"It's a long story…." Steven said, glancing back frequently to check if they were being followed and was grateful that they were safe for now.

Connie nodded trying to catch her breath, "Can we….maybe explain when we get back to the island?" she asked, not wanting to explain now for a lot of reasons such as needing to figure out what exactly to say. "We..need some time to comprehend it ourselves.."

"Alright, you can tell us whatever you know then…" he said, "And about why you had to apologize for bringing us here."

"Right….." Steven said.

* * *

 **Yes so chapter ten is done but while I'm here I thought I'd maybe drop this link** **watch?v=dpZmOl2uLrQ** **in case anyone wanted to listen to a Steven Universe Fan Song attempted by yours truly**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello! Chapter 11 here it is and thanks so much to all you wonderful people who have been reading and reviewing and everything! A large part of the frequency of these updates is because of that. Knowing that there are people who are actually reading and enjoying this really throws some spring into my step so I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.**

* * *

The flight back to Air Temple Island had much more tension that the flight heading to Crescent Island as Tenzin and Jinora both knew now, at least at a basic level, that Steven and Connie had hidden some sort of important information from them.

For Steven and Connie, they were left to try and work out what they were going to say about everything. Unable to speak directly to each other though without being heard by the airbenders however, they needed to figure out their story on their own.

When they did eventually reach the island again, around an hour after their encounter with Malachite, they found that Lin Beifong was presently there as well and seemingly waiting for them in the pavilion.

Upon landing, Steven felt rather relieved, hoping that whatever she had to say would distract from him and Connie having to explain things that he wasn't too sure he was ready for anyways.

"Lin, what brings you here?" Tenzin asked as he jumped from Oogi, Steven and Connie getting down a little less gracefully by rolling down Oogi's tail.

"Where is it that you had told Pema and the others you were going?" Lin asked.

"Crescent Island in the Fire Nation." Tenzin answered, "Steven and Connie mentioned a memory of the place so we went to see if we could find anything." he said, scowling slightly at the two kids.

"Did you see anything?" she asked.

"If you mean finding where they came from no, but we did encounter what had initially appeared to be a spirit though there was no spiritual energy around it." he said.

Lin nodded, "Large, slightly humanoid with four eyes?" she questioned, "because if we are referring to the same creature then it's been spotted making it's way towards the United Republic."

"Yes, that must be the same as the one we encountered. They also seem to have some sort of control of the water as well similar to a waterbender." he added, "And if it is heading towards the United Republic making a defensive plan may be a good idea. It seems to be very hostile, though, I'm sure these two can give you a bit more information." he said, turning to Steven and Connie who sort of froze.

"You kids know what that thing is?" Lin questioned and Steven and Connie looked at eachother.

"When we spotted it in the ocean they knew it was dangerous even before it attacked." Tenzin nodded. "So please, you need to tell us if they are a danger, lives could very well be at stake."

Steven took in a deep breath, "We, we do know what it is and it's not an it." he said looking down and shuffling his feet, "They're a her, or, more accurately a they...Their name is Malachite and they're well,it's hard to explain….."

"Let's go inside and you can have all the time you need to explain this." Lin said, turning and walking inside.

* * *

Inside a room in the temple Steven and Connie sat next to each other now with Lin Beifong across from them, Tenzin stood silently not too far from them.

Steven felt he had a decent story in his mind and hoped that it would be at least somewhat believable in the events that this world had seen. All that reading they had done would definitely help this time too.

"So what exactly, is this 'Malachite?' "Lin asked, her arms crossed as she waited to hear what they had to say.

"It's…..a very long story.." he began, working the final bits out in his head.

"We still have time until it reaches the shore so get talking." Lin pushed.

He looked over at Connie briefly, "Well, sorta like, at that first Harmonic Convergence ten thousand years ago, another thing happened as a result. Gems, like, sorta the gemstones, came, to life you could say, along with developing special abilities as a result. Then, sorta around five thousand years ago, two different sides of these gems started to fight. The bad gems doing something to the planet to hurt it really bad and a group of them didn't like it. So they fought back against them and sent them back to the spirit world." he explained hoping that they would at least partially believe it.

"Do you really expect us to believe something like that?"

"Actually….I'm a gem too," he said, lifting up his shirt to expose the rose quartz gem, "Or, at least part gem. After the war, my mother and a few her friends remained and they spent the next few thousand years never aging as a result of their the immortality gems have and helping to protect their new home by dealing with monsters and stuff making their, base you could say, in Beach City, where me and Connie are from." he continued and Tenzin nodded seeing his gemstone. "Eventually my mom met my dad and they fell in love and all that and she, died in a way to have me. So her friends, the Crystal Gems took care of me when I got older."

"True or not I don't see how this helps us deal with Malachite." Lin grumbled, growing impatient.

"Sorry I'm sorta getting to that," he said, "With the second Harmonic Convergence, more bad gems started showing up as well as a gem named Lapis Lazuli who I freed from being trapped in a mirror. But the bad gems, they caught her and had her give them information about the world now and then, they came to beach city and brought her along." he remembered, "The main one of the gems who came, her name's Jasper, she recognized my gem and thought I was my mom so she attacked us and took us prisoner on their ship thing. When we escaped and caused the ship to crash, she was angry, very angry. And to try and beat us she convinced Lapis to do this ritual thing that gems can do in order to get stronger, the result of that is Malachite. A fusion of Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, but in order to save us, Lapis used her control over water to drag them both to the bottom of the ocean." he looked down, "We looked for them, but then, a few weeks ago I dreamt I was talking to Lapis, and every night since we came to this city I've dreamed of them. Last night though, I saw Malachite as opposed to Lapis herself, and before I woke I saw Crescent Island, that's how I knew where they'd be."

Lin seemed skeptical of the entire story but Tenzin seemed to believe it enough, "Would Malachite still recognize you if they saw you?"

"Possibly...though, given that Lapis lost control of them their reaction would probably be bad, I don't think they recognized us back at the island since they just lashed out in general so I really don't know…."

"Well, if this is indeed all true, how are we supposed to stop them?" Lin demanded.

"I don't know, I guess, you could try to get them to unfuse so Jasper would be the only bad guy to fight, but you'd have to be really strong in order to split them in the first place." he said, "Maybe just hit them with a bunch of rocks?" he shrugged, "Just, don't break their actual gems or they'll die..."

Still not looking completely satisfied Lin gave a reluctant nod before standing up, "It's more than I came here with, I need to alert President Raiko of the situation." she said, marching out of the room.

"I've never heard of the gems before." Tenzin said, "Though, if they're as old as you say and have been largely in one place over the course of thousands of years I suppose it would make sense…"

"I lived rather close to the area where they are for a while and I wasn't aware of them either until I met Steven." Connie said, "It was one of the gems who taught me how to use a sword actually."

Tenzin nodded, "So why didn't you two tell us about this when you first arrived?"

"We..we really didn't think you'd believe us, even if I had shown you my gem you probably would've thought I'd glued it on or something." Steven said.

"I suppose you're correct in that assumption, though, you said the gems have special powers, does that include you as well?" Tenzin asked curiously.

Steven nodded, "Yeah, well, I'm still learning though I can do a few things." he said, focussing and summoning his shield onto his left hand, "See? Cool huh?" he smiled.

"It's quite incredible yes." Tenzin said, "And I'd love to know more but for now I need to tell Pema and the others about the coming danger. And Steven, if Malachite can recognize you I think it would be a safe idea for you to remain as far from them as possible."

"That would be smart I suppose…" Steven agreed while Tenzin left them as well.

When she was absolutely sure everyone was gone Connie stood from her seat, "That's a pretty good story you came up with, how'd you come up with it?"

"I just sorta, thought about all that stuff we read and tried to fit it in a way that made sense in this world I guess. I mean, it wasn't necessarily a complete lie just a sorta different truth?" he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Still, they believed it and for now it'll explain anything else gem related that happens while we're here." Connie said.

"Yeah I guess so, though, if they do split Jasper and Lapis apart, what happens then? What if they try to throw them in jail or something, I, I don't think Lapis would be able to be a prisoner all over again….." he sighed, "And I really don't think they'd be able to keep Jasper locked up too long, she's too strong and she'd probably end up hurting a lot of people.."

"But you have to remember too that the people here have the ability to control the elements, they should be able to stop Malachite and when they unfuse they can probably beat her there too." Connie affirmed to him.

"You're probably right, and maybe since I explained what happened with Lapis she wouldn't get in trouble for it all. Still, waiting to find out what happens isn't very fun. They're probably quite a ways from reaching us which means it's still a while until we know if everything is going to be okay or not…"

"I know how you feel, I think the waiting and the suspense is what makes it especially hard to handle but when it comes I guess we just have to trust it'll all be okay." she said. "So, maybe we just shouldn't worry about it until the time does come."

"You're right again, we just have to wait and see now…"

* * *

 **End of this chapter and I also wanted to say thank you to Honorboundfate for helping with this!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12, this is the last chapter I'll be posting before school starts on Wednesday for me and after this I will try to do at least weekly or bi-weekly updates so y'all don't have to wait too long. Also I'm sorry for not answering too many of the reviews but I promise it's not because I don't appreciate them! Admittedly some of them I do not answer because I'd either give away the plot or completely confuse you but do know I read them all and really appreciate the support!**

The hours passed by slowly as a certain calm before the storm covered Republic City. Those living closest to the shoreline, including the inhabitants of Air Temple Island, had been evacuated and moved deeper into the city. The evacuation had been called a flood danger as many people would find that easier to believe than the truth.

Patrolling the waters in what was soon to be in the path of Malachite's destruction, General Iroh and the United Forces waited with most of the metalbending police force behind them to serve as back up. Iroh's foot tapped nervously, worried of what the outcome of the battle would be.

Watching the harbour from a wide window in the hotel room he and Connie had been told to stay in, Steven couldn't help but wonder if their combined forces down there would be enough to defeat Malachite. By herself, Lapis had been able to bring much of the ocean into a tower all with a cracked gem at that, now that she was not in control, who could know Malachite's full power?

"Thinking about Lapis?" Connie asked, snapping Steven from his thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh well, yeah sorta...I was thinking that well, do you think they'll be able to beat Malachite?" he asked her, "They're going to be really strong and...what if a bunch of people get hurt…."

"Steven, people are probably going to get hurt still, but they have more of a chance I suppose, they're much stronger than those at home. And besides, they don't have to completely beat them, they just need to unfuse them. After that I'm sure Lapis would help then there would just be Jasper." Connie said.

"Yeah but, what if they break one of their gems? Or, what if Malachite is much stronger than Lapis and covers the whole city in water?!" he exclaimed, growing more worried about negative possibilities the more he thought about it.

He felt a hand on his shoulder as Connie looked at him, "It'll be alright, they've got this I'm sure, we just need to sit this fight out this time."

Still quite worried but grateful for her words, Steven nodded, "So, we just, wait here then until the fight is over, yeah, I can do that." he said, "Then when it's all done, me and Lapis can be Beach Summer Fun Buddies again, all three of us can be!" he smiled, trying to hope for the best now.

There was a knock at their hotel door, the knocking was followed by the door being thrown opened by Meelo who hadn't even waited for an answer. "Whatcha talking about!?" he practically ordered, Steven had almost forgotten that he along with Ikki and their mother were going to be sharing the room with them too.

"Oh, uh, just wondering about what's going to happen when Malachite reaches this place." Connie answered.

"You mean that big scary monster thing? With the four eyes?" Meelo asked, making fake 'eyes' by cupping his hands separately on his forehead. "Because I'm sure they're gonna get crushed!"

Steven frowned at that, "I'll have you know that Malachite is not completely bad and does not deserve to be crushed." he crossed his arms.

"Really? Cause Jinora said that it attacked you just because you were flying by it, that's definitely mean in my books." Meelo said as a matter of factly.

"Well they're not, they're just, partially bad… but really, you'll see half of them is really nice and she was my friend and I don't really like you saying they'll get crushed." Steven said.

Meelo shrugged, not believing it for one moment as Pema walked in with Ikki, "What're you two arguing about?" Ikki asked as she hopped onto the couch.

"Nothing." Meelo said, quickly blasting himself over to the couch beside his sister.

Pema looked at him with the glare mother's tend to give their children when they know they're up to something, she refrained from asking the question herself but turned to Steven and Connie, "Are you two doing alright?"

"Yes ma'am." Connie answered immediately answered.

Steven nodded, still a bit bothered by what Meelo had said but choosing instead to turn the other cheek on the matter, "We're okay, is everything going alright with getting people from the harbour?"

"From what I heard they may just barely get everyone out in time, Malachite right?" Steven nodded, "they were spotted them only a few miles away….." Pema informed him. "She'll probably reach the city by sunset."

Connie looked out the window again, the Sun had already began its slow descent over the horizon, "I wonder what their plan of attack will be?" she wondered.

"Whatever happens I'm sure everything will be okay, so you kids don't have to worry." Pema assured them.

"Okay, but I still may be a bit worried." Steven said giving a nervous laugh.

They spent another couple hours talking in the room, trying to pass the time by telling stories and even though Meelo's words had still bugged him more than a little bit, Steven answered the questions he was given about the gems and his own powers.

During this time, dark gloomy clouds had rolled in from the sea, making the night seem to arrive a bit faster than normal with the clouds blocking the light from what Steven was sure would've been a lovely sunset.

Turning away from their chat for a moment to see if there was any sign of Malachite yet, Connie looked out the window. She couldn't help but think to herself that if this were to be a movie or even a book the directors/writers would have been going a bit too far with the symbolism of the storm clouds. Still, it had been a while since Pema said Malachite had been spotted and Connie had begun to wonder if she had possibly taken a different route and ended up in a different city, or more preferably, a different uninhabited land mass.

"When are they going to get here?" Meelo asked, sounding more eager than afraid as he popped up in front of the window sill right next to Connie.

Connie decided to ignore him, he hadn't been too bad the first day they'd met but with everything that had been happening she felt he had gotten worse.

Thankfully, for Meelo at least, the waves near the harbour had begun to crash violently. The soldiers on the ships began to run into their respective positions and back at the hotel Steven had run to the now crowded window sill. "She's coming." he said, watching intently as he spotted striped green skin and a large head of white hair rising from the waters as Malachite had shallow water to stand on the closer she got to the shore.

The soldiers didn't give her the chance to get too close to the shore however as General Iroh ordered them to begin their attack, the General himself taking a position behind a canon made specifically for firebenders. Igniting smaller flames in his hands, he along with the other firebenders launched burning rocks through the canons at the fusion.

Cackling, Malachite swatted many of the burning projectiles away with a hand composed of water, the rocks sizzling as they crashed back into the harbour while a few of them managed to fly back towards the ships.

The waterbenders aboard were able to deflect, or at the very least, re-direct the rocks back into the ocean as Malachite clenched a hand into a fist and swung, a large wave following her hand and towards the ships. Even for the most experienced waterbenders on board, it still took all their strength to keep their boats from capsizing as General Iroh and the other firebenders didn't let up on their own attack.

With this round of cannon fire, a few did manage to land on their target making one of Malachite's two pairs of eyes cringe in pain.

This was not unseen by Steven, even all the way up in the hotel blocks away, "They're hurting her."

"I think she's hurting them more." Ikki observed, bringing the total number of faces looking out the window to four.

Another one of Malachite's waves crashed against the fleet as they spoke and one of the smaller ships did flip over sending its occupants into the water. "They're hurting eachother...I, maybe I can…." Steven muttered to himself, hating to watch this happen. Sitting this fight out was harder than he expected and before he entirely knew what he was doing himself he had turned away from the window and had made a break for the door.

"Steven!" Connie yelled, trying to chase after him as he had even managed to make it past Pema. Apologizing as she did the same, Connie went after him, "What are you doing?!" she yelled at him, both of them racing down the hallways.

"I'm going to trying and talk to them!" he yelled back, "Just stay in the room I don't want you to get hurt!" he said.

Shaking her head, Connie was just behind him as they shot down the stairs when the elevator took too long, "I'm not letting you do something that crazy alone!" she insisted.

He didn't want her to come and get hurt, but he knew better than to argue with her when they needed to get to the harbour. "Fine but just be careful!"

"I will if you will." she said as they reached the ground floor, "Do you even know how we're going to get there?" she asked, panting slightly.

He slid to a stop, "Ummmm…." he looked around, there were plenty of vehicles but not exactly anyone to drive them as even the people inland had been instructed to stay inside.

Connie did the same but in spotting a small Moped like vehicle whose owner had been foolish enough to leave the keys in she quickly made a decision, "Come on." she said, grabbing his arm and having them both jump onto it.

"Do you...do you know how to drive these things?" he asked.

"Nope." she said, turning the keys to the ignition, "But it doesn't look too hard and if we crash you can bubble us." she said, quickly figuring out how to get it moving. "Still, you may want to hold on." she suggested as she twisted the handles of it causing it to lurch forward.

To not fly off, Steven grabbed Connie's waist as she shakily got the bike moving, she was a fast learner thankfully as she balanced their weight out and shot towards the harbour.

"Wahhhh!" Steven yelled as he hung on for dear life as Connie navigated through the streets and alleyways they had passed a few days earlier as if she had known them for her whole life.

The harbour gradually came to view as did Malachite who, in the time it took for Steven and Connie to get there, had pushed her way past the United Forces and was working her way onto the land, crushing the building closest to her.

"We're here!" Steven said, Connie releasing the gas and holding onto the break before they crashed into a building in their stop. Jumping from the moped, Steven tried to get Malachite's attention, "Malachite!" he shouted, but with all the destruction that was going on she did not hear him.

"She's not listening." Connie said, pulling herself and Steven away from a falling rock that had actually come from the metal bending police. "We're too low."

He looked above them and a little further back at the buildings that were relatively in front of Malachite's path, "I'm going to try to climb up there." he told Connie who nodded and was sure to follow him as they climbed the fire escape on the outside of the building. Steven getting a chance to repay Connie as he pulled them down so they wouldn't get hit in the head from another flying boulder.

Getting onto the actual roof, Steven and Connie were still a good distance below Malachite but Steven hoped it would be enough for her to hear him. "Malachite!" he yelled again, the fusion looking down at him and briefly pausing in her rampage. "It's me, Steven Universe. And I needed to talk to you." he said, "I need to talk to Lapis."

From below the building, the benders had stopped their attack as well upon hearing voices, "Are there kids up there?" one asked as Lin lowered the rock she had been preparing.

"It's those two kids from the Island! What are they _doing_ here!" she said, clenching a hand in frustration, "Get them down immediately!" she ordered.

Malachite had lowered herself to be eye to eye with Steven, Connie had taken a slight step back to give Steven the floor in a sense. "Lapis Lazuli, please, you have to get back in control and break this fusion! You're hurting people and I know you're hurt too." he said walking closer, "You're stronger than her, you're stronger than Malachite!" he insisted, whether or she comprehended this was unclear.

"S-Steven." Malachite said, speaking in one voice as opposed to the mashed voices of Lapis and Jasper that he had heard in their first encounter, "Steven." she repeated and Steven felt a sense of hope that was all too quickly dashed as Malachite lifted a hand and brought it down at him.

Connie ran at him to try and push him out of the way and even though she did reach him before the hand hit she did not succeed in pushing him away as Steven had instinctively bubbled them both in time. "Guess talking didn't work huh?" he said to Connie once the shakiness of getting hit had left.

"Steven look out!" Connie warned without answering as Malachite brought her hand down again and again on the bubble. "What are we-" another hit, "Supposed to do now?!" Connie yelled as Malachite even began to toss them around once she had thrown the approaching metalbenders to the side.

"I don't know!" Steven admitted in terror as their bubble was thrown all over the place, he had no idea how long he could hold it before it popped, and then…

Malachite was laughing again now as she threw them all over the place, trying to break the bubble yes, but also toying with them similar to how a cat would a ball of yarn.

With a final slam against the ground below the building, the bubble popped and Steven and Connie fell out of it exhausted.

Bringing a large wave to clear the area around her of benders, Malachite brought her hands up for one last hit to the two. Before she could make contact however, small streams of water began to flow around her. She looked at them in surprise and confusion while Steven noticed a young, dark skinned woman bending the streams in an almost rhythmic motion. He felt like he recognized her but could not put his finger on it at the moment. Behind her, a boy with dark hair close in age ran behind her followed by another dark haired girl. Both waited to see what would happen.

"It's not a spirit!" Lin yelled at her, having recovered from the wave, "Your fancy bending won't help!"

The girl nodded as she and the other two sprung into action. Bending the streams of water into icicles, she fired them at Malachite as the boy, who Steven assumed to be an earthbender, did something to the ground below Malachite. Whatever he did had begun to cause the earth around her to heat up as if it had come straight from a volcano.

The other girl ran over to Steven and Connie, "Are you two okay?" she asked in concern as she helped them both to their feet, Steven noticing an odd glove covered in what seemed to be wires on one of her hands.

"Yeah, just….a bit shaken up…." Connie answered as will help she stood on shaky legs. "Thank you for….helping us." she said.

"If you guys hadn't come when you had…." Steven began but was stopped as the earthbending boy was thrown past them.

"That is one tough, whatever it is…" he said in a slightly joking tone as he bent a rock from behind him to push himself back to his feet. "Korra any luck!" he yelled back at the young woman.

He only received an angry grunt as she too was tossed back. "You two stay back." the girl told Connie and Steven as she ran towards Korra.

"Korra…." Connie muttered, "Wait she's Avatar Korra!" Connie realized, and thanks to that Steven was able to understand why she looked familiar.

"If she's the Avatar she can definitely unfuse them, but….she doesn't know about that, we, need to try telling her." Steven said, "But they'd still need to split them apart without hurting their gems since talking didn't work…" he tried to think of past fusions he had seen get split up and while Opal was the first to come to mind, Sugilite getting defeated by her own weapon was the closest to this situation. "They can just drop something on her head, right, like a giant rock."

"I think the benders already fighting would have thought of that by now." Connie pointed out as the two of them jumped to avoid flying debris.

"Maybe they still needed something extra, so they could pick up a rock big enough. And with Korra here maybe they can have that!" he was already trying to get as close to the fight without getting close enough to be seen by Malachite again.

"Steven…" Connie said, chasing Steven yet again.

He had thought his plan out a bit more this time, waiting for Korra to get closer to him before even attempting to talk, "You need to drop something on her head!" he yelled at her.

Korra turned her head to face him, "What are you doing here it's not safe!" she scolded, bending Malachite's water back at her.

"Trust me, just drop a rock or something!" he promised, this time distracting her to the point of her getting hit by another incoming wave that Connie had to pull him away from.

"No, you kids need to listen to me and get out of here!" Korra yelled once she had recovered from the attack.

Steven was getting a bit frustrated as he looked for the earthbender who had arrived with Korra, Steven felt that maybe he'd be a bit easier to try and convince "You need to tell Korra to help you drop something on Malachite!"

The earthbender had been presently trying to launch a rock at Malachite's face, his leg in the air as he dropped the rock once he lost his concentration, "Huh? Drop a rock on that thing?" he said, having a bit more time than Korra had to actually get a good view of what they were fighting, "Little buddy that may be a bit harder to do than it sounds," Steven slumped his shoulders, "But maybe not _too_ bad of an idea, hmm." he said, pondering it for a very brief moment before running towards Korra himself.

"Find any weak points?" she asked him once he had reached side by side with her, the two of them redirecting a piece of a falling building before he even slowed down.

"Not exactly, but, there was a kid who suggested dropping something on it." he said, the two of them fighting pretty well together.

Korra froze the incoming hand composed of water as he flung a rock at it to send the shards and the boulder flying back at Malachite.

"How would he know if that would work though, it's not a spirit and we don't know what it is." she said, many of the metal benders returning from the hit now and re-joining the fight.

"It's probably crazy but he knew what its name was. Maybe he knows more about it than we do or something like that." he said as he and Korra had to duck behind a building to avoid another hit, "Or maybe not."

Korra looked back at their enemy, Malachite was nothing like she had ever had to deal with and nothing else was working at this point either. "Let's try it." she finally said. "But we're going to need the other earthbenders to get a rock that big into the air."

He nodded, "I'll try and get to Chief Beifong then, just, don't die until then!" he said, running off and having to deflect what he could only describe as a water cannon as he passed Malachite.

Meanwhile, Steven and Connie were still hiding close to the battlefield largely due to Steven's persistence to not leave until everything was okay and he could talk to Lapis. "Where's he going?" Steven wondered, watching the earthbender run off, Korra picking up chunks of rock from the ground and building them up while lashing out at Malachite every few blows. "I think they're going to do the thing." Steven said.

This seemed to be true as Chief Beifong along with as many earth and metalbenders from both the ships and the ground arrived, getting a bit closer now to assist Korra. "Nice work Bolin." Korra commented and the earthbender gave her a smile.

While some of the benders put the focus to trying to get the ever growing bolder over Malachite's head, the others focussed on protecting them and keeping Malachite from knowing what exactly they were planning.

Connie and Steven were holding their breath, waiting and watching the rock reach a considerable size. Before it could drop though, Malachite's eyes shifted from the benders for a moment and that was all it took for her to realize their plan. "No! I'm...staying like….this!" she yelled, her speech still in one voice but almost struggling to get the words out as she swung a large wave at the benders. Yes, this sent them a good distance back from her, but without their hold the rock fell anyways.

It hit her and shattered with a large cracking noise as Malachite could no longer hold her form, splitting off into Lapis Lazuli and Jasper. The two of them falling on different sides of the shattered rock.

"Lapis!" Steven yelled running towards her, not waiting to see what Connie would say. Sliding to his knees beside her he noticed she looked really bad, checking her gem, he was relieved to find it was okay but she still was going to need some kind of care.

"Steven….?" she said, looking up at him and trying to comprehend what had happened, "We're not fused anymore….wait, where's Jasper!" she quickly said, her eyes darting around and stopping as she spotted the tall gem who looked as bad as she felt and figured she herself looked.

"You…" Jasper hissed as she too saw Steven and Lapis from across the wreckage. "You!" she repeated with more fury as she got to her feet with a bit more ease than Lapis had.

"Steven you need to go." Lapis said, still struggling to even stand.

Shaking his head he helped her to balance, "No, I'm not leaving." he said.

Jasper was approaching them at a slow but still intimidating pace, not wanting to wait longer she lifted a rather large rock, "Do you know how awful it was being trapped down there with you Lazuli!" she said, "It was a living hell!" she threw the rock straight at them with more force than what Steven would have expected given her condition.

He didn't get a chance to block it with his shield either as Lapis jumped in front of him, taking the blunt of the hit and almost immediately retreating into her gem as a result.

"Noo!" Steven yelled, jumping forward and catching Lapis' gem before it hit the ground, tears were already on the corners of his eyes.

"You're next Rose Quartz."

 **And that's it for chapter 12, I am sorry this one took a while but the updates will now have roughly that amount of time between each chapter as school begins tomorrow for me. Additionally sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger and thank you to Honorboundfate for helping again and to Jess my friend who made jokes at very bad times.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 here it is! As mentioned last chapter I have begun school so chapters will still be pretty spread out until winter break at least. I will try and update at least once a month and with slightly longer chapter when possible. Thanks again to all the reviews, favs, and follows! You are all so wonderful and I'm sorry for leaving y'all on such a big cliffhanger, I will try to not let that happen too much.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Steven felt his heart pounding in his ears as he looked up at the massive gem looking down at him with a terrifying glare, "Even now that she did that for you you won't fight!?" she questioned, angry and confused as to why her biggest threat during the war was looking up at her in the form of a small human.

He was shaking slightly in fear, holding Lapis's gem close to his chest in case Jasper tried to hurt it, though, he was still terrified of getting hurt himself. "I…" he said, trying to think of what to say.

"What is it Rose! Where's the gem who'd do anything to protect those around her?" Jasper asked, reaching to pick Steven from the shirt. "You're an embarrassment to your own legacy. So return to your true form and fight or I _will_ make you"

Before she could, a whip comprised of cool water wrapped around her arm and pulled her back, "What the?" she said, turning around to see the bender in control of the water to be non-other than the Avatar herself.

"Listen, I don't know who or what you are but if you think you're hurting anyone today you're going to have to be disappointed." Korra threatened, pulling Jasper all the way around so the gem would be facing her.

Yanking her arm up to break the water whip, Jasper rolled her eyes, "I don't care what kind of tricks you humans have come up with since I was last here but stay out of this, this is gem business."

Korra made her way closer to Jasper, "Well considering you're threatening a kid in front of me after trying to destroy the city, it's my business too now."

Jasper rolled her eyes but did give Korra her full attention, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" she growled, this human was really starting to annoy her.

"Do you know who I am?" Korra asked in retaliation, taking slow steps towards Jasper.

"A human child who doesn't know when to shut up and who will get crushed if she doesn't learn how to soon." Jasper answered, behind her now Connie was rushing to pull Steven away. This he did not complain to.

Korra frowned, "I am Avatar Korra and I will not hesitate to use force to stop you from causing anymore damage to anything or anyone." she said.

Jasper briefly assessed her own condition, she was worn from being Malachite for so long but her opponent was just a human. Even if she did seem to have a more gem like ability that's all she was. She gave a small smirk as she summoned her weapon, the crash helmet which slightly reflected the light from the city. "Go ahead and try, this will be amusing at most." she said, giving Korra only a moment before charging her like a raging bull.

Korra wasted no time as she used a blast of air to propel herself into the air and above Jasper before bending pieces of a fallen building towards Jasper.

Seeing them coming towards her, Jasper simply extended her arms out to her sides, blocking both hits with apparent ease. Korra's eyes widened but she immediately shook it off, using the force of her landing to slam onto the ground near Jasper, creating a crater and sending her flying backwards.

Jasper had stopped smiling now, though she had blocked Korra's hit earlier she could still feel the power behind them as well as the attack that had sent even her into the air. It was stronger than the humans who had pelted them with what had felt like pebbles while she was Malachite and while she still had no clue how humans were able to display gem like abilities in the first place she still figured this human may be stronger than she had initially deducted. Stronger than the others around her too as there clearly had to be some respect towards her for them to follow her orders.

That was okay though, she thought, quickly getting back to her feet, it had been ages since she had fought in a proper battle, not since the war at least. She did not count her battle against Garnet to be 'great', the fusion having cheated, in Jasper's mind. So for now she would crush this human, she could always deal with the traitors later.

Korra straightened up from the crater her bending had created and immediately located Jasper, this time she was not horribly surprised that her opponent was standing again. Korra still didn't have the slightest idea who exactly this enemy was other than that they were dangerous and had to be stopped, she could ask questions later.

Igniting her fists this time, she began shooting balls of fire at Jasper, Jasper in turn blocked them with either her hands or her helmet which Korra was surprised at how adept she was at using such an odd weapon.

Korra continued to use firebending attacks against Jasper as she tried to close in. When Jasper took to using rocks from the wreckage to help in her own attacks by chucking them at Korra with the force of an earthbender, Korra switched to using her own earthbending skills. Alternating between the four elements with the skill that tended to define the Avatar. Using a wave of water to cover the area and freeze it in an attempt to hold Jasper back so that Korra could begin bending the metal beams from the debris around her as restraints.

Jasper struggled briefly with the ice, eventually spinning out of it with her spin dash attack which resembled fire in it's own right. Moving quickly across the ice, Korra brought up a shield of stone to protect herself, her feet digging into the ground as she was pushed back, the rock barely staying together after jasper crashed into it.

Realizing her opportunity, Jasper reached around the rock and grabbed Korra's wrist. She lifted her up with ease despite Korra's use of the rocks around her that she tried to use to keep her ground. Whirling her around, she threw her back towards the worst of the wreckage, expecting it to finish her off, special or not, this 'Avatar' girl was still human.

Korra hit the rocks and quite painfully too, she felt rubble falling down in small pieces beside her. From the warm liquid she felt going down her arm she figured she had cut it and probably a few more places. It didn't feel like anything was broken though at least. Breathing heavy, she looked to see Jasper's condition.

The gem had already turned away from Korra, seeing no reason in attacking her further. The battle had left it's toll on her as well, scratches and what appeared to be bruises along her own body and if Korra looked closely she could almost spot a limp. Even so, she did not look nearly as bad as most people who had fought with the Avatar looked. She was still standing.

Korra pushed herself from the rocks. It had been a while since she had needed to fight this hard and given that she was close to lose entirely she had only one more option.

Focussing for a moment on the light energy within her, Korra's eyes began to glow and she stood from the wreckage. No longer having the thousands of voices of past Avatar's that would have layered her own, she only spoke in her voice, "We're not done here."

Jasper turned back to face her, "Why don't you just give u-" she was cut off before she could finish by a powerful blast of water that sent Jasper back into the ocean.

Something that could only be described as a small hurricane moved Korra towards the ocean waters as she pulled Jasper out with her own hand of water. "Surrender now, you cannot defeat me."

Actually impressed, as well as a little shocked, a grin returned to Jasper's face, "No!" she said, attempting to headbutt Korra now that they were face to face.

Now the one in control of the fight, Korra easily blocked the attack with a blast of air coming from above before the arm of water hurled Jasper into the ground.

Not giving her even a moment to catch her breath, Korra metalbent beams and rocks around Jasper, forcing her arms down and preventing her from moving or attacking. Jasper tried to break from them but had no luck in doing so.

The glow leaving her eyes, Korra let the hurricane dissipate and walked towards the now immobilized Jasper. She was still exhausted from the fight but going into the Avatar State had given all the strength she needed.

Jasper glared at her, not giving up on trying to break free but still found that doing so was impossible, "Who are you?" Korra demanded, her voice clear and sharp as the rubble trapping Jasper seemed to tighten with only her voice.

"Jasper of the Yellow Diamond Regiment." she answered, Korra having gained enough respect from her for Jasper to answer truthfully.

The words however, didn't mean anything to Korra, having no knowledge of any Yellow Diamond Regiment or whether she should know who this 'Jasper' was.

She noticed Korra's confusion on the subject and was prepared to explain further if only to show her just how little Korra knew about the universe but she was interrupted by the footsteps of those who had fought Malachite, barely having recovered from the attack and now joining Korra in surrounding the gem.

Lin Beifong was the first to reach them though many of the Metal Bending Police and benders of the United Forces who were still in commission followed behind her. Glancing at the now powerless Jasper she nodded to Korra, "Good work Korra." she said simply before turning to Jasper, "And as for you, you are going to answer for the damage and for your actions here today."

Jasper laughed in spite of herself, "Me, 'answer' to humans for getting in the way?" she said, sure Korra had been powerful enough to defeat her, that didn't mean she was prepared to face what had happened.

"Yes." Lin answered, not missing a beat. "While in your previous form you put the lives of multiple civilians in danger and harmed those on the front lines. You also blatantly threatened a child with the full intent of following up on the threat."

"Are you arresting me then?" she asked, still laughing a bit at the whole prospect.

"In short. Yes." Lin said, gesturing for her benders to help to take Jasper away.

Jasper didn't say anything more as she was arrested. Though she would never admit it, the fight had exhausted her form as well, not quite to the point that she would have to reform but to the point that she knew another all out fight may not end all that well for her.

Once Jasper was out of earshot, Korra turned to Lin, "Who was that?" she asked Lin, Bolin and the other girl Korra had arrived with running beside her.

"And why was she a giant terrifying mover monster a few minutes ago?" the guy asked, his relative calmness during the battle completely gone.

"She was what can simply be called a sentient gem created roughly ten thousand years ago or so I have been told." Lin answered, "The monster on the other hand was a fusion formed by her and another similar gem who seems to have vanished at the moment." she noticed the confusion still on their faces, "Perhaps I'm not the best to explain this, having just learned it all myself. The two who are able to however are the kids who ran into the fighting earlier, assuming they're still in one piece it would be best to ask them."

* * *

Steven brushed back the small pieces of rock that had been disturbed during the fighting, his and Connie's hiding place during the fight had proven to be a good choice as they had stayed out of sight and mostly out of danger save for a few minor scratches left by falling debris.

Connie breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, Korra was able to defeat her." she said, getting to her feet completely and helping him to do the same.

"Yeah, and she didn't even have to poof her." he nodded, looking down however to the tear drop gem he held in his hands. A few tear stains still on his face.

She noticed his gaze and put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance, "She'll be back right, she just needs to rest a bit."

"Right but, Pearl took two weeks, what if she's like her? Or, what if because of everything she doesn't come back for years?" he said, "What if she never comes back at all…."

"She will, you watch, then I'll get to meet her too." Connie smiled.

He slowly nodded as he carefully put her gem in his pocket, "You two!" he heard a voice yell that made him jump in surprise.

The voice belonged to Korra herself who was presently heading towards their little hide away along with Bolin and the dark haired girl who had arrived with her. "Are you Steven and Connie?" Korra asked, her hands on her hips as she almost seemed to glare at the kids.

"Umm...yes?" Steven answered, feeling tempted to hide again behind the wreckage now that some of Korra's anger that had been directed at Jasper during the fighting seemed to now be aimed at them.

"Chief Beifong said you two would know more about what happened?" Korra asked, her tone softening ever so slightly once she realized how scared she had made the children feel.

"We can but umm, maybe not here? I need to get Lapis somewhere safe." Steven said, resting his hand on the pocket he had put her tear drop gem in.

Korra tilted her head, looking behind the kids to see for someone else she may have initially missed, "Lapis?"

"Is she invisible?" Bolin asked, looking at the empty space around Steven and Connie.

Shaking his head, Steven reached into his pocket and pulled the gem out, keeping her close to him but giving enough room for the three to see her.

"She was the other gem who formed that creature correct?" The dark haired girl asked as she briefly examined the stone from the distance she was permitted.

"Mhmm, so I really need to get her somewhere safe, me and Connie can tell you more later then." he promised and Korra nodded.

"Alright but first of all were you two crazy? Understanding what these gems are or not did not give you any reason to run into the fighting! You both could have been killed." Korra scolded them and they could only nod their heads in response.

"Sorry Ms. Avatar we wanted to see if we could help, Steven knows the gems so he wanted to try and talk to them." Connie said, rubbing her arm as she still looked down slightly.

The other girl nodded, "Well, I suppose their hearts were in the right place." she said.

"And their advice did get us out of being crushed by that gem monster thing by giving us the idea to crush it with a rock." Bolin added.

"That was Malachite and she was a fusion, not a monster." Steven defended, still focussing on Lapis's gem.

"You can explain it all once we get somewhere safe like you said." Korra said, "Though, I'm pretty sure you have a lot of stuff to explain."

* * *

 **And that's it, thanks so much and thank you to Honourboundfate! Look out for the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**And here we are again, another chapter and I am so so sorry for taking so long to upload! I've been having school and health troubles and weather troubles so I haven't been having as much time as normal to type things up I'm afraid. The goal was to upload this chapter on Catch and Release, then pretty much every episode after, and then eventually to try on my birthday but that passed too (can anyone guess what day) but anyways I finally bring you this chapter!**

 **Also,thanks so much to Honourboundfate and I will try my best not to leave so much of a gap between chapters like I did before.**

* * *

The ride back to the hotel was almost completely silent. Korra, Bolin, and the dark haired girl whose name they learned was Asami, keeping to what they had told the kids about not asking questions until reaching a safer location.

Chief Beifong had joined her metal benders back at the Police Station to interrogate Jasper, Steven was more than a little grateful for this, the woman intimidated him almost as much as Jasper did.

Still, the silence of the car trip gave Steven enough time to think of what he was going to say, his previous lie would not hold too well now that the Avatar was here. If she really could speak to her past lives like he and Connie had read, any lies about the past would most likely be caught immediately by her.

He hadn't wanted to lie in the first place, lying was wrong after all and more often than not caused more trouble than it was worth. Connie's deduction of just how far from home they were made doing so feel necessary. However much he had disliked it he had chosen to go along with it, even making their biggest lie himself.

He squeezed Lapis's gem slightly in his hand, the truth was going to come out sooner rather than later and he really didn't want it to be from one of the gems, be it Jasper in talking to the police provided that she did cooperate, or from Lapis in her likely confusion when she regenerated.

No, he would much rather say it himself that way he could at least explain why they had lied in the first place. Maybe everyone wouldn't be too upset with them for lying again, especially since now there wouldn't be anymore lies once he came clean.

The car slowed to a stop in front of the hotel, it's headlights dimming as its power was cut and everyone got out and onto the sidewalk and walked into the hotel. The moon was high in the sky by now, the clouds having parted so its light could be seen. Steven took in a deep breath as he too got out, careful not to bump Lapis against anything as he walked beside Connie back up to the room they had ran out of a few hours prior.

"I'm going to tell them the truth." he whispered under his breath to her once they had fallen behind the other three.

Her eyes widened as she turned to look at him, "Are you sure?" she asked, making sure to keep her own voice as quiet as possible, "But what if-"

"They're gonna be asking Jasper anyways and I really don't want them to yell too much at us for not telling them before then. It's probably time since they're going to really be having to deal with gems soon." he said, holding up Lapis slightly almost as if to show emphasis.

She opened her mouth slightly, prepared to protest but evidently changing her mind as she nodded in understanding, "If you think it's time then, alright. I trust you."

He gave her a thanks as they walked into the room after Korra, Bolin, and Asami. The three receiving hugs from Pema, Ikki, and Meelo while Connie and Steven received a bit of a scolding for running off as they had.

Soon after their arrival, Jinora and Tenzin also arrived, the two having assisted with the evacuation along with a few of the older Airbenders.

Once everyone was settled in, all attention was returned to Steven and Connie, Steven, who hadn't been expecting such a large audience, felt almost all of resolve to tell the truth dissipate.

"I understand that you're both likely exhausted as well from the events of this evening, if you'd like I can explain to them what is happening. I remember your explanation well enough so-" Tenzin proposed but was stopped by Steven.

"No…no it's not that it's umm." he said, trying to gather his words, he sighed, "Me and Connie lied, I'm so sorry but not all that we told you was entirely true...at least, not in the way that we made it sound…"

Bolin looked shocked, "You lied…? " he asked, looking wide eyed at them, "Um, about what though exactly, me, Korra, and Asami still are reeeaally lost in all of this."

"The creature you and the other benders fought, Steven and Connie, these two children initially told us that they were parts of a race known as gems. Some being good and some bearing mal intentions," Tenzin briefly explained and then turned to the kids, "Is this not true?"

"That part is true, I promise." Steven said, "It's just well, exactly where they, and we're from. We are from a place called Beach City, but you guys have never heard of it, because it doesn't really exist in this world. Because me, Connie, and even the gems aren't from this world either."

"Aren't from this world? Then, like from the spirit world then?" Asami asked, Korra seemed to have been thinking the same thing as she nodded in agreement.

Connie shook her head, "No, more like, a completely separate world from both your spirit world and from your physical world. A world where the spirit world doesn't exist at all, at least, not how it is in your own world and is this making any sense to you guys?"

"No. Not really, what other worlds could there be?" Korra questioned, crossing her arms.

"It's complicated I guess, me and Connie aren't 100% sure either but she came up with that theory when we saw your maps, and your books, and your food." Steven said, "Not that your maps, books, and food aren't good or anything."

"Right, also, in our world we seem to have slightly more advanced technologies than here, this was another lead to us coming to that conclusion. For example, you only recently developed moving pictures whereas we've had them for well over seventy years and have been able to produce them in color and even in 3 dimensions." Connie commented. "That would usually leave the conclusion of time travel if this were some kind of science fiction novel but since you guys are ahead of us in some ways that crosses it out. Not to mention your elemental abilities."

Many heads turned to Asami whose hand was placed under her chin, being the most adept regarding science they must've thought she'd have something to say about this. She was trying to comprehend exactly what they had been told herself however. It was a lot to try and take in, her expertise being more mechanical which wasn't particularly useful in this situation.

When Asami took longer than expected to say anything, it was Korra to speak up next, "Even if whatever you said somehow made sense, how do we know you're telling the truth if you've already lied to Tenzin and everyone else before?"

Steven's shoulders slumped, "Umm, you can just sorta trust us maybe…?" he said, not having too great of an argument, "Though, I'm sure Lapis will help to back us up whenever she gets back."

"But if she was defeated after that other gem crushed her how is she supposed to tell us anything? We don't even know if she'll turn on us or not." Korra stated.

"She'll be back when she's ready, I may or may not have said that when I was talking to Mr. Tenzin and everyone before you guys came. When a gem takes a blow that would be fatal for a human they retreat into the gem on their body, and come back later." he said, looking down at her gem once more, "She'll be back." he nodded, almost as confirmation for himself.

"Anything else you like to say about the gems while on the topic, you may as well start from the beginning now that you have a new audience." Tenzin said, "And because now you can fully divulge any other information you may have not mentioned or lied about."

"From the top then…."

* * *

Even after Steven had finished explaining nearly every detail he could about the gems, their war, and even his mother and the Crystal Gems, the room was quiet for a few minutes save for the occasional question which he would answer to the best of his ability. Sometime during this, Mako had arrived and had been filled in by his brother.

By the time everyone seemed done with questioning him and Connie, the Sun already seemed to be rising in the distance and while there was still an air of tension in the room, Steven didn't feel like there were going to be any accusations flying towards them any more.

Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo had fallen asleep by now and Bolin seemed close to following them off into dreamland. Pema and a couple of the Air Acolytes had helped in getting them all to bed too try and regain some of their lost sleep.

"If gems are so powerful by themselves how can we be sure that we'll be able to keep this Jasper gem in place for long?" Korra asked, "In my fight with her I only just managed to defeat her."

"She's probably tired from it then, gems may not need to sleep but they can get tired." Steven said, yawning himself.

Asami couldn't help but smile, sure the situation was something completely new but some things, such as how adorable kids could be when tired, never really changed. It was a nice to have something to stay the same as now with the arrival of these kids and of gems Asami had the feeling that the relative peace they had enjoyed over the year wouldn't last much longer.

"Now, is everything you had to say the truth this time around?" Tenzin asked, it was all hard to believe but not impossible, plenty of unbelievable things had happened in the past few years alone.

"That's it, it's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And we're still sorry we had to lie in the first place." Steven said.

Steven felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Asami giving him a reassuring smile, "You were two kids thrown into a strange place and placed in a difficult situation, you handled it the best you could and hey, I'm sure you learned something from it." she said, "But still, if you two are from an entirely separate world…."

"How the heck are we supposed to get you back?" Korra finished, "And for that matter get Jasper back as well. She probably won't just come willing with us to wherever the thing that got you here is."

"Well, back home me and Steven were pulled under the water by an ocean wave, and when we woke up we were on the beach here, maybe it has something to do with the ocean." Connie suggested, "As for Jasper, even if it is in the ocean, you're right, I have no idea how we'd get her to go with us."

"Lapis, can probably help with both with her cool watery stuff." Steven yawned.

By now, Pema was returning from putting her kids to bed, "Are you all done now? It wouldn't hurt for you guys to get some sleep either, yesterday was quite a busy day." she advised.

"No it's okay Mrs. Pema we can," Connie tried to say but only yawned as well, "We can stay awake as long as you guys need us to."

"Go ahead and get to sleep." Korra said, she still was a bit irritated at the kids for apparently hiding as much information as they had but she had to agree with Asami, they were just kids, "We'll head to bed soon too hopefully."

"You heard Korra, now come on, anything else can wait until everyone is rested." Pema said, ushering Steven and Connie in the direction of the rooms.

"What are we going to do now, assuming that everything they told us is true then we still have the threat of that Jasper gem escaping and going after Steven and probably Lapis, whenever she does come back I suppose." Mako said. "Then as they said, if this portal or whatever exactly it is is under the water how are we to even get to it?"

"Future Industries has a few submarine vehicles we've been testing, an extended test to go looking for something like a portal could be an excellent excuse to test them further." Asami put in.

Tenzin nodded to this, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt, though given that they've already lied to us on multiple accounts it's difficult to trust exactly what they said."

"I agree but given all that's happened and what we've seen maybe this time they are telling the truth." Mako said, "It would make sense given that it was the most shocking thing they've revealed to us so far. And as he said, we'll be able to hear the stories from two of these gems now, provided of course Jasper is cooperative."

"I don't see why she wouldn't, she seemed to understand her defeat by the end of our battle so hopefully she's already spilled her half of the story." Korra said, "Speaking of which, we haven't heard anything from her yet either."

"Maybe she's still talking to her? It took us quite a while to hear the full story ourself in the end so it would make sense it would take a while for them to hear it too." Asami said.

Tenzin agreed, "Also we have to remember that the capture of Jasper was only a part of everything that happened, there were most certainly other minor incidents through the city, not to mention the damage caused on the coast but we'll hear from her soon enough." he said, "For now though, I do have to agree with Pema, it's been a long night and a few hours of sleep for the rest of us wouldn't hurt either."

"Wouldn't want to be falling asleep if another big fight comes up after all." Korra said, "We can still stay on the island right?"

"Of course, Air Temple Island has always been a safe place for you all." Tenzin assured her, "I'll be sure to let you know if anything happens."

* * *

Back at the Metalbending Police Force Headquarters, many of its officers had been called back to guard one of its largest cells typically reserved for dangerous earth and metalbenders. Its walls were pristine, reflecting the light from the single lamp hanging from above.

The room itself was relatively large compared to those around it, still, due to the massive size of its lone occupant much of its size was lost in comparison.

Jasper's long hair alone covered much of the bench she was laying on, resting her head on her hand in boredom. She had already attempted to punch through the walls shortly after they had arrived but much to her surprise they had refused to give in even when she had summoned her crash helmet.

She had to admit, these humans were as pathetic as she remembered from her time on Earth during the war, regardless, something wasn't sitting right with her about the abilities they presented. The ones she had had the displeasure to fight could barely handle a sword, much less control elements of any kind. She couldn't picture them ever developing such skills on the path they had been on the last time she'd seen them.

It didn't make any sense to her, and that made her more than a little angry, what also made her angry was the fact that it wasn't Rose Quartz who ran into the battle to face her instead leaving it to a human. Rose wasn't that weak and she sure as hell wasn't a coward. Taking the form of a human child was both of those things.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of a metal door squealing opened as in walked Lin Beifong as Jasper had heard her name to be. The door shut as soon as Lin was out of the way, being made of the same platinum as the walls Jasper hadn't had any luck breaking it down either. "Took you long enough." she commented, not bothering to sit up from where she was currently reclining.

Lin glared at her, "That's all you have to save for what you did?"

"It depends on what you want to hear." Jasper said, briefly considering the idea of crushing Lin here and now, possibly someone would slip up in trying to get in to help her that the door would be left open.

Some of her thought must have been written on her face as Lin raised an arm, "If you try to attack me I know the weakness you gems have." she said, lowering her arm and letting a small sliver of metal slide from her sleeve, something she could easily fire at Jasper if need be to quickly return her to her gem.

She rolled her eyes, "What do you want to hear then?" she repeated.

"I need to know what exactly you are and what you're doing here." she demanded.

"I thought you knew already, you called me a gem after all." she said, using Lin's same tone when she had used the word.

"We were given an idea of whatever you are from the same boy you tried to kill a few hours ago." Lin said.

At the mention of Rose, Jasper raised her head a bit, "Don't you know who that is, that isn't a human child she's Rose Quartz." she insisted. "I would think even you would know that considering it was her army who protected this gemforsaken planet."

She shook her head, "He is not Rose Quartz, he is her son."

"Son?" Jasper wondered out loud, she had heard of the concept of course but gems were not born they were made. "You're lying."

"If you ever calm down enough you can ask him yourself but no, I'm not lying. From what he told us he is half human and half gem. His mother died when he was born so your attack on him was based on false information." Lin concluded.

Jasper didn't reply for a moment, she didn't reply at all actually regarding the origin of Steven, "What else did they tell you?" she asked in a voice that almost felt too quiet for it to be hers.

"The origin of the gems, and where exactly you came from." Lin answered. "From what they said you came from the Spirit World during the most recent Harmonic Convergence, your creation came from the first." she said and when she saw Jasper's puzzled expression she got the feeling that the story she had been told may not have been true after all.

"I don't know what this Harmonic Convergence is but I can tell you that's not at all how gems are formed, and we definitely don't come from some so called 'Spirit World' " Jasper said, "We come from Homeworld and many gems are grown there too. Whatever information you were told was a lie."

Lin was rather surprised, she hadn't been quick to believe the kids in the first place but the story she was hearing now was already very different, "And where is this, Homeworld?"

She simply pointed up, "The closest I think that you humans will understand is that it's in space. Very, very far from this rotten planet." she said.

"Then why did your kind come here?" Lin asked, not sure whether she believed her yet or not but wanting to see what else this gem had to say.

"That's not important." Jasper replied, she hadn't really cared too much about their return that much anyways.

"Have you been here before then?"

"Over five thousand years ago."

"Can you at least tell me why you came during that time?"

"It was an effort to colonize the planet as well as to use it to grow more gems, Rose Quartz's Rebellion prevented that however and in the end Homeworld had to retreat." Jasper said bitterly.

"And I take it that you were on the side that opposed her?"

"Of course, the gems in her army were all traitors and hid on earth for years."

"The why is it that until recently we didn't know anything about gems at all?" Lin asked.

Jasper shrugged, "You humans don't notice anything unless it threatens your pathetic existence."

Lin gave a sigh of frustration, things weren't adding up, "That will be all for now." she said turning away and stomping towards the door.

Jasper laid back down again, watching the door be opened only enough to allow Lin through by a younger officer.

Catching her eye for a moment, Jasper briefly saw her face. And there seemed to be a smile on it.

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A Note From the Editor:  
Hello everyone I'm honorboundfate and I'm the editor of this story. You're all probably wondering why chapters sometimes take a while to come out, well the reason for that is me. Now if you're like me you find that improper grammar and spelling errors break your immersion with the story, so I come in and clean things up just a bit, violet the hero doesn't make a lot of mistakes but I'm here to help when she does. She writes and I edit for your entertainment. Now I can get pretty busy or sometimes I'll even have some bad luck, plans are made, power sometimes goes out etc, so I'm not always very quick about what I do and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I take so long but you know, better quality than quantity. Thanks for reading this awesome story. PEACE OUT!


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello wonderful readers! As promised there was not nearly as much as a gap between chapters as before!Still a quite a bit of a gap though as school (Namely AP Physics) and illness is kicking my butt. Anyways, I am still just blown away that y'all are reading this it means so much and your continued support is a large reason this story got past the first few chapters!**

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The sun had already long past its peak by the time Connie finally opened her eyes though, she herself would have been unable to tell at the moment as the curtains of the room were tightly drawn. Out of habbit, she reached out to turn on the light and pick up her lensless glasses she'd had for the past few months, keeping them only to keep her parents believing in her 'secret identity'.

When her hands closed on nothing but air however, she was reminded of where she was and the events that had taken place to land her and Steven here in a bedroom literal worlds away from their home. Looking across the room, she could still see him despite the very little light filtering in. He was still asleep though from the way his blankets were thrown around she figured he must have had a rough night. She attributed that to him worrying about Lapis-who was sitting in her gem form on the nightstand near his bed in a bowl of water, Steven had hoped being submerged in it might speed up her recovery. She wouldn't blame him if he had dealt with nightmares much of the night as well.

She couldn't remember having any nightmares herself but she could remember the exhaustion she had felt and the almost immediate sleep she had fallen into despite how hard the beds were. It was probably for the best, she rarely remembered her dreams anyways and she would've hated for one of those memories to be a nightmare.

Steven looked fine now though, no nightmares anymore and just a light snoring. She decided to let him continue to sleep a bit longer as she threw her feet to the side of the bed and carefully placed her feet on the ground so as not to wake him up. The motion however reminded her that she was still rather sore from the night before, it was a bit worse than after her training sessions with Pearl but then again, a lot more had happened in a few hours than in any of those sessions.

The pain was bearable though and so she headed for the door and opened it as quietly as she could, she blinked to adjust to the light and then quickly closed it behind her so it wouldn't disturb him. To her surprise, Pema was walking in her direction, "Oh wonderful you're up." Pema smiled kindly, "How'd you sleep? After all the excitement yesterday I hope you were able to get some of your energy back."

"I slept very well Mrs. Pema." Connie said, returning the smile, "Just a bit sore but nothing too bad, I'll be fine."

Pema nodded, "I'm happy to hear that and I'm sure that once you get moving again you won't notice it too much anymore. And Steven, is he awake yet?"

"No ma'am he's still in dreamland, I think yesterday was a bit harder on him to be honest…" Connie said, "Were you coming to wake us up?"

"Yes but I suppose there's no rush for him to wake up right now. You can fill him in a bit later."

"Fill him in on what?"

"Korra, Asami, and the others are discussing what's going to happen next now that you told us everything you did. We need to get you guys home but at the same time there are some bad things happening in the Earth Nation right now that Korra needs to intervene in."

"Alright and what kind of trouble if you don't mind my asking?" Connie said as her and Pema began walking away from the room.

"Nothing too bad I don't think, but it has to do with some people who want to bring an old leader back into power, you may have heard of her actually. Her name was Kuvira."

The name rang a bell, "I think I know who you're talking about, but didn't she give up her control of the Earth Nation willingly?"

"Yes but you see, some of her supporters seem to think she was forced into that decision and that has caused a bit of conflict." Pema explained.

"Right…." Connie said.

"Anyways, I was meaning to ask you two earlier before everything started happening but would you like me to get you a change of clothes, you and Steven have been wearing the same outfits since you arrived and it's starting to show." Pema said and as a result Connie found herself looking down at her outfit again.

She hadn't really noticed it before, what with everything that had been on her mind, but it was true, her sundress slightly tattered and more than a little dirty. "Oh umm, yes ma'am that would be wonderful thank you!"

"You're very welcome and I'm sorry for not asking earlier though." Pema apologized.

"No no it's fine, really, you've all been so nice to us without having to. Me and Steven really appreciate that you care enough to offer at all." Connie assured her.

Pema gave another you're welcome before she lead her to the dining room where the members of what Connie had learned to call Team Avatar sat around a table. Even as she walked in, Connie couldn't help but feel an air of tension.

Despite this, Bolin smiled to Connie, "Good morning~" he greeted, "Or, maybe more like good afternoon." he laughed as he and Asami made room at the table for Connie to sit down.

"Good afternoon." Connie said in response as she addressed everyone at the table, she noticed Pema leave the room once she had sat down. "Umm, me and Steven, we didn't miss much did we?"

Asami shook her head, "No well, I suppose that's a matter of opinion. You see we've been discussing what to do next with what you and Steven told us yesterday."

"Not to mention what we're going to have to do as far as what's happening in the Earth Nation." Korra added.

"You mean with Kuvira? Mrs. Pema told me about that actually, and how her supporters are trying to bring her back to power." Connie said.

"Yes that's her, the problem is that she doesn't want to be brought to power again, she understands that she made a mistake and she is willing to serve her time in prison. Her supporters won't believe it though so that's part of the problem." Korra continued. "A few from her military left to join the Earth Nation's and some even remained in Republic City to work in the Police but for some reason there's been a larger amount of people wanting her to be released."

"There's also been a few confrontations with those supporters who seem to believe they are still a part of her military and local law enforcements in the Earth Nation, we encountered a few but shortly before you came we received a call that things may be getting a bit worse." Mako said.

"Are you guys planning on heading over there again?"

"That's part of what we're trying to figure out." Korra said, "We need to get you back home and Jasper out of here as soon as possible but if these people go too long without someone getting on their backs there'll be a big problem."

"I see…." Connie said, "Well, maybe you guys should head out and me and Steven can just stay here until you get back I mean, lives could be on the line if those people start causing a lot of trouble. Me and Steven can wait a bit longer but this might not be able to." she suggested.

Tenzin nodded at this, "We may have to do that, but at the same time perhaps we should see what Steven thinks as well."

No sooner had Tenzin said that did the same boy's voice ring into the room, "Hello!" he cheered as he walked in followed by Pema. He stopped as he looked around, "I didn't..interrupt anything did I?"

"You're fine don't worry." Asami said, she quickly giving a rundown of what Steven had missed.

"I think you guys should go too." he said once she was done, "Connie's right, there's probably more people in danger over there. And while you guys are gone we can do our own investigating on whatever took us here. We'll be fine here on the island and who knows, maybe we'll figure it out while you're gone." he smiled.

Tenzin looked at Steven and then to Connie, "Are the two of you sure that you'll be alright with that?"

They both nodded, "Everyone here is really nice, we'll figure it out Mr. Tenzin." Connie said.

"Then we've got our plan." Korra said as she stood up and stretched briefly, "Asami, think you can get us an airship? It may be better than taking a boat this time around since we need to get there as soon as possible."

Asami stood up next, "Do you even have to ask." she said as she smiled to Korra and Connie couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the two's relationship than what she had noticed before.

As Asami left to likely make a call, Mako and Bolin did as well. Mako to inform Chief Beifong of the absence he was going to undertake and Bolin left with him to catch up afterwards.

Tenzin went off to who knows where leaving Pema, Steven, and Connie.

"You know, I can't help but wish we could have gone with them." Steven said, "It would be really cool to see the other places in this world wouldn't it?"

Connie nodded, "Hey, we'll probably see some cool stuff here. And maybe if we're still here when they come back they can even tell us about it."

"Yeah.." he said, Connie noticed now that he was holding Lapis's gem in one of his hands. He must've decided the bowl of water wouldn't work for now.

"You will don't you kids worry." Pema said, "And to start that off I found the two of you something to wear." she said, lifting up the two sets of clothing she had draped over her arms, "You can go ahead and change now if you'd like. There's restrooms over there for the two of you to change in so you don't have to head all the way back to the rooms."

Connie took hers and Steven his, making sure to leave Lapis with Pema before the two of them went down the hall and into the separate restrooms to change from the clothing that had gotten so worn so quickly. She couldn't help but feel a bit sad actually, the clothes were one of her last connections to their world. She couldn't deny they were in bad shape though and so she quickly switched into those given to her.

They were surprisingly soft and unlike the yellow and orange outfits the Air Acolytes wore the clothes were instead pale green in color for both the pants and the shirt with a light yellow stripe going down the middle of the shirt. It was however, slightly large on her.

"It looks good on you." Pema commented as Connie left the room and returned to the dining room, "How does it feel?"

"It feels great." she said, Steven entering right behind her in a similar outfit, it looked a bit large on him as well but he had solved that problem by rolling up the pant legs and shirt sleeves.

"I think I look good too." Steven smiled, even going as far as to strike a little pose as he made his debut. "And look, we match too." he said, gesturing to Connie.

"I'm happy you like them. And now that you're wearing that you'll fit in a bit better here as well. Your clothing from home, while nice don't get me wrong, was noticeably different." Pema said, "But if you want, I can go ahead and clean them out for you kids."

"Thank you." Steven and Connie said, giving up their old clothes to her. Steven made sure to take Lapis's gem back as he did so.

As he took her back, they heard the pounding of footsteps as Bolin shot back into the room, "Steven and Connie, you have to come with us, no time to lose!" he said, sounding more urgent than Connie could even remember him sounding during the fight with Malachite.

"What is it?" Pema asked in concern as Bolin took their hands, trying to rush them out from the room.

"We talked to Beifong, she said that gem lady somehow got out and is heading this way. She knows they're here for some reason!" he quickly explained as the kids picked up the pace themselves with this new information.

"How did she find out?!" Connie asked, the four of them including Pema getting outside soon enough where a moderately sized airship baring the Future Industries logo was docking.

Korra, Mako, and Tenzin along with a few of the Air Acolytes were hurriedly working on last minute preparations.

"We don't know but we just heard about this a few minutes ago, she'll probably get to the shore soon and I don't want to see what she'll do to get here." Bolin said, the four of them reaching the others, "I've got them."

"Good." Tenzin nodded, "And not a moment to lose now hurry, get on the ship. Asami is already inside working on all the mechanical aspects." he said, Steven and Connie nodded, preparing to do just that as there was a shout from one of the Air Acolytes.

"What's happening now?" Connie asked, looking past Tenzin to see a boat speeding in the island's direction. "Wait, did she-?"

From what Connie could see, it looked like it very well could be the battle hungry gem heading their way, riding the boat that could only be hijacked given the terrified sailor on the inside. She was already donning her crash helmet.

"She works fast doesn't she?" Mako commented, "You two need to get on now, at the very least if she doesn't see you it may be easier to deal with her." he ordered, Steven and Connie wasting no time now as they hurried aboard. Asami ran past them while Tenzin had Pema and the Air Acolytes head into the temple. A few Airbenders were called out to take their place however. The entrance of the ship closed after Asami had left.

Jasper arrived a short while after they had entered and to Connie's surprise she didn't jump straight to attacking, instead, when the boat docked she stepped off after making sure the owner of the boat didn't try making a getaway under threat of a pummeling. Korra and the others noticed this, not attacking first either but holding defensive positions so they could fight if the need became apparent.

Connie was grateful that the ship had windows, at the very least she and Steven could watch what would happen next without giving themselves away. This was for the best as the first thing Jasper asked was where Rose was and even with the insisting of Tenzin and the members of Team Avatar, she wouldn't listen.

"I know they're here now tell me where they are or I will not hesitate to use force." she demanded.

"There is no Rose Quartz here, Gem, there never was now you'd better get out of here or I won't hesitate to use force." Korra threatened.

Jasper recognized Korra quickly, how could she not after all, she'd been a human strong enough to defeat her. "Watch it Avatar or whatever you call yourself, you only won because I was injured, I'll crush you if you try that again."

"It wouldn't be just her you'd be fighting this time." Mako said, stepping forward ever so slightly.

Jasper raised an eyebrow, "This place would still get destroyed I hope you know that." she said, "And a good number of your soldiers," she glanced around at Team Avatar and the airbenders who had remained, "Wouldn't make it past the day."

Korra lowered her guard slightly, Jasper definitely had a point there. She herself had seen the gem's power first hand and it was enough to cause her trouble even in the Avatar State. If it came down to a fight with Jasper at full strength they may win but not without casualties. "Rose is not here." she repeated calmly.

"If you have to you can search the entire island but we promise you they are not on the island." Tenzin added.

"Fine! If you don't believe that Rose is here then tell me where the human going by the name 'Steven' is then?" Jasper said, she still believed the shape of the boy was a transformation of Rose's but since they clearly believed they were seperate she may as well ask.

"He's not on the island either." Bolin said, it wasn't a lie, the airship was docked above the island, not on it. He did glance briefly at it though as he spoke.

Jasper looked at him, then to the ship. "What about in there?" she asked and smiled as she saw them all tense up slightly.

"He's not there either." Korra said but Jasper already had her mind set on it.

"Open it up then, and maybe Rose or Steven or whatever you call them will stop being a coward and face me themselves." Jasper ordered. Asami looked to Korra who was ready to attack if the kids couldn't hide in time, Mako, Bolin, and Tenzin seemed ready to do the same as Korra nodded to her.

"Alright…" Asami nodded, the entrance opening again, everyone on edge as Jasper headed inside, a look of triumph on her face.

Upon hearing the conversation a few moments before though, Steven and Connie had quickly come up with a plan and executed it thanks in part to both of them as there was a flash of light moments before Jasper would have entered, escorted in by Korra and Asami.

To the three's surprise-and Jasper's annoyance, Steven and Connie were not there. Instead there was a teenager around the same height as Korra with long hair who looked to the three nonchalantly as they entered, "Oh, are we leaving already?" they asked.

"Who-?" Korra had begun to say but was quickly shushed by Asami who didn't know what was going on themselves but if this person was here instead of the kids perhaps they weren't on the ship at all anymore.

"No not yet." Asami said, "We just needed to prove to, Jasper, that there was no one that she knew on board of the airship."

They nodded, "Look away then, don't let us-me keep you from looking."

The three walked past them and through the rest of the airship. Once Jasper was satisfied that no one important was on board, she left it, insisting to be lead around the rest of the island.

Not wanting to fight her, Korra and Asami complied, along with the rest of the team who joined in case of attack.

"Satisfied?" Korra asked once the forced tour of the place was over. Jasper seemed just as angry as when they had left the airship but nodded, storming back to where the boat was still docked.

"Bah! I know she's somewhere on this miserable planet, I will find her and the rest of the traitors while I'm stuck on this rock." she hissed, getting on the boat and ordering the captain to take her across the waters again.

"You still escaped police custody however so you're not supposed to be going anywhere!" Mako yelled at her, trying to run to the shore before she could leave.

She was already on the water by then, "And do you seriously think you could take me back there again? My earlier threat still stands, wherever we fight it will not end well for you so back off."she growled, "And besides, how could you hope to try when I'll know every move you make. There's a traitor hiding with you."

Mako thought about what she had said, likely he thought she was referring to Rose. He'd heard enough from Steven to understand why she'd call his mother that. But at the same time, he felt like she may be referring to someone else. He was about to get on a boat to chase her regardless to find out and to of course apprehend her but was stopped by Tenzin, "I'll contact Chief Beifong, but for now it's perhaps time for you all to be leaving now. We'll handle things here."

Mako nodded to him, "Yes sir, thank you." he said and while he would have prefered pursuing her himself, he decided, against it. For now though, Tenzin was right. He was needed elsewhere and so he headed back to the airship.

Also re-entering the ship was Korra and Asami, accompanied this time by Bolin. The teenager from before was still inside, sitting on a chair as they watched them enter, "Who are you and where are the two kids who should have been in here?" Korra demanded making the teen give a bit of a nervous laugh.

"That's… a bit of a funny story actually. My name is Stevonnie, and as to where the kids are well.." the teen was enveloped in a flash of light as Steven and Connie fell to the floor where they had stood.

"We're still both here you see?" Connie said, standing back up, going from being rather tall to her natural height was always a bit disorienting.

They looked at Steven and Connie in surprise and confusion, "Wait, so they, Stevonnie, was the both of you, mashed together or something?" Bolin asked.

"Not quite, remember the fusion thing? Where gems can sorta create one super strong giant woman?" Steven asked and was met with nods of confirmation, "Since I'm half human, I'm able to fuse with humans too and so Stevonnie was born. When we saw Jasper heading up, we thought it was worth a shot so we fused and she didn't even know it!" he smiled.

"It was a bit of a gamble to be honest." Connie continued, "Whenever we fused in the past, Steven's gem would still be visible, we just hoped this time with our new outfits it wouldn't and thankfully it paid off."

"You kids are just full of surprises aren't you?" Asami said smiling, "It did work out though so I suppose there's that."

Korra nodded, "And I suppose it was quick thinking on your parts too."

Around now, Mako was returning to the ship as well and also received a very brief explanation of who the teen had been.

"It's a good thing you have some way of disguising yourselves, she may have left for now but I'm still pretty sure she has plans to make another visit. She knows we're leaving after all and by now we know somebody has been tipping her off on Steven and Connie's locations." he said, remembering what Jasper had told him.

"What makes you think that?" Bolin asked.

"Something she said while she was making her leave, she said there was a traitor among us…" he explained. "Of course, we don't know for sure but it's not a good thing to hear regardless."

"If that's the case, she'll probably know if we do leave the island and if Steven and Connie stay." Bolin noted, "That means they won't be all that safe if they stay even with that fusion thing."

"So….why don't we come with you?" Connie said on the spur of the moment.

"Yeah, yeah!" Steven smiled, "You guys are going far away right, so even if she knows where you're going since we're flying it'll be really hard for her to keep up. She'll probably will be walking won't she?"

"Or stealing people's cars.." Bolin said but did smile, "But I think it sounds like an alright idea."

Asami nodded, "I agree, where we're going may be dangerous but at the least we'll be keeping them away from Jasper. As for finding a way to send them back we weren't going to really start working on it until we returned anyways." she said. "Korra? Mako? What do you think?""

"I'd prefer to leave them here but it's true, on the island or anywhere in proximity to the city isn't the safest spot. At least for now." Mako said.

"I suppose if we have to, we could always leave them in Zaofu for a while. Whenever we stop to refuel or anything where they have to get off they can do that fusion thing too." Korra said and Connie's hope skyrocketed. "I'll talk to Tenzin about it. Steven, Connie, why don't you come with me?"

"Okay." they both said, running out from the airship eagerly as Korra followed them.

Given Jasper's reappearance and the possibility of there being a mole diverging information, it turned out that Tenzin and Pema had been considering on sending Steven and Connie with them anyways. Team Avatar's agreement had made the decision all the easier and after some extra packing for Steven and Connie's addition they were quickly on the airship again. Waving goodbye to Pema, Tenzin, and their kids. Two of which were quite annoyed that they hadn't been invited to go to the Earth Kingdom themselves.

Connie watched the island and the city get further and further away as they set off, she could hardly contain her excitement.

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 **Thanks again to the wonderful Honorboundfate and all you who read this :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! Here it is my friends another chapter and here well, things are going to start getting a bit more exciting if I do say so myself. We're going to be meeting some familiar and some, not so familiar faces. Also, I'd put this at roughly the midpoint of the story which is actually much more than I had anticipated in the first place. Lastly, thanks again for sticking with me through this, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as well!**

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The city had been crawling with law enforcement almost immediately after Jasper's escape and even several hours after the fact it was no different.

She had had the captain of the small boat drop her off far from the city near a spot her new informant had mentioned to her before they had parted ways. The captain seemed eager to go and report her to the police but another round of foul threats from her that he knew she could carry out made him promise to keep quiet. Even if it would be hard for her to find him again he wasn't about to take the chance.

The spot was a good mile away from the outskirts of Republic City and the meeting spot another mile inland. She didn't mind the walk, if anything it gave her time to think of the threats and curses she would spew at the human for giving her false information.

The sun had set by the time she got there, the land slightly more rocky than expected but with her crash helmet it was no more than a mere annoyance. When the ground began to level again, she saw the dingy old house constructed decades ago and showing a good amount of wear and tear. The human had insisted the isolated location along with how wrecked it was would make a good place for them to meet up at in the event the human had been wrong.

She quite literally threw the door open as she entered, the door being violently ripped from its hinges and sent crashing to the other side of the room, but she paid it no mind. Once inside though, her gaze immediately shot to the human sitting at an ancient looking wooden table that had clearly seen better days just like the rest of the house. They too looked up to glance at Jasper with a smile, as if the gem had entered the house without causing property damage.

"I take it things did not go as planned?" they asked, setting the cup they'd been drinking from down next to the day's newspaper.

"No!" Jasper snapped angrily, "Rose Quartz was nowhere to be found in any form! I searched the entire island and nothing! You lied to me!"

They nodded, completely unaffected by her rage or the fact that Jasper could very easily crush them, they weren't even a bender after all. "I know, you just missed them." they pulled out what appeared to be a radio from the satchel hanging on the chair they sat on. At the moment it had only static though.

"What is that?" Jasper asked, eyeing the object suspiciously.

"It's a radio, it picks up on the radio waves in the air, I trust you know what those are?"

"Of course I do." Jasper hissed, "What I'm trying to figure out is how that has anything to do with what you just said and whether or not I've wasted my time by thinking I could get useful help from a human."

"I was listening in while I was back in the city when they contacted Beifong. Rose and whoever their companion was had hidden themselves on the ship so even when you went to investigate they were out of sight. I don't know where on the ship but they were there and they're joining the Avatar who is headed out of Republic city and to the Earth Kingdom." they explained.

"Why should I listen to you after your last piece of intel was completely wrong?" Jasper asked.

They simply began turning the dial on the radio until instead of static a cheery voice came out of it. This cheery voice was easily identifiable as Steven's as he sung a song about bottles of soda on a wall. "They've been on the ship a good while but they're still in range, I turned it off because after about the 20th verse their voice got very annoying, I don't think they even know they're transmitting."

"That still doesn't prove anything." Jasper growled, she was losing what little patience she had.

They didn't answer, instead they waited as another voice came through the radio and was evidently a bit closer to it as their voice came in clearer than Steven's, "Asami, how long will it be until we can land, I just got off the phone with Chief Beifong and she said there's still no sign of Jasper." the voice said, evidently male.

"It'll be a while, we'll have plenty of time to distance ourselves from Jasper and get more than halfway to Zao Fu so tell her not to worry. The kids sure aren't." the person Jasper had to assume was Asami answered as another voice joined Steven's song.

"I'll tell her." he responded and evidently left, the human in front of Jasper turned the radio down with that.

"Do you know exactly where they're heading?" Jasper asked, angry with herself for evidently not finding them when she had searched the ship before.

"They're moving towards the Earth Kingdom and as you heard they'll stop in a place known as ZaoFu, I would not recommend attacking them there though as it has home the of the best metalbenders in the world." they warned, "No, it may be better to corner them later on when their guard is more likely to drop."

"And where would that be?"

"No where I'd expect you to know, I can help you get there by the time they do though." they said. "For now though I suggest you don't worry about it too much."

"Then what am I supposed to do in the meantime!"

"Maybe learn a bit more about the planet you're on, you said you were here thousands of years ago, things have surely changed during that time." they said simply, Jasper rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't matter how much it's changed, what matters is that it's doomed and I want to get off of it with Rose Quartz in tow before it does end." she growled.

"That's right...you'd mentioned this cluster thing at the center of the planet set to hatch soon." they nodded, yes Jasper had briefly mentioned it but they didn't find it all that likely themselves, something that large would have been sensed by an earthbender long ago. They never brought this up however. "Well, you're just going to have to be patient and hope it keeps from hatching for a bit longer as we don't have an available ship and as I mentioned before, we're going to have to wait to catch up with them." They didn't have a ship at all, space travel was still a long ways off for them.

Jasper grumbled to herself but finally gave a frustrated sigh. "How long until we can catch up with them?"

"Around two weeks, give or take a few days depending on how often they stop. I'll keep an eye on them through Beifong and you'll be the first to know when an opportunity arrives."

The gem still didn't seem entirely satisfied but did eventually nod. "Fine. I suppose that means I have to work with you a bit longer then don't I human?"

"Yes, and in that case I'd appreciate it if you would stop calling me 'human', I have a proper name you know."

"And what would that be?"

They stood up from their chair, they were significantly smaller than Jasper with dark hair tied into a bun. Additionally, they wore a uniform from the metalbending police, albeit of it's lowest ranking officers. "My name is Yuu."

* * *

Steven had only flown in a plane once or twice in his life. Once to see his dad's favorite band perform in concert a few states away and another to visit a distant relative when Steven was very young and could barely remember.

He remembered the feeling of it though, how stepping on it didn't feel nearly as solid as it looked, and how during take off he felt like he was going in the fastest race car he could imagine.

He remembered flying in Pearl's spaceship too, how it moved even faster than the plane and the feeling of having to evacuate before it literally exploded in their faces.

Lastly, he remembered riding on Oogi the flying bison. Take off then had been as smooth as the flying itself with the exception of when they'd had to turn it into high gear to warn the mainland about Malachite.

Riding in an airship, he concluded, was very different from all of those. Lift off had been rather smooth yes, the actual flying was as well though it was far more easily affected by winds than Oogi or planes had ever been.

It was still quite an experience and watching the passing villages and mountains below made it all the better as he and Connie got to see more of this world at last. A few songs helped to boost up spirits for everyone else as well. They'd all been so nervous since they had left the island and even Steven could see them losing at least some of their tension the further they went.

He himself was a bit worried about Jasper too, correction, a lot worried, he didn't want her to go on a rampage like he'd seen her do right after the Malachite fight, but at the same time she was a gem too and even though Pearl had said it was normal for gems to fight gems it still didn't feel right to him in the same way that he'd never quite understood why humanity was always throwing itself into wars. Why fight those who are no different that you and even if they are, there still shouldn't be any reason for violence.

At least, that's the way he's always seen it.

Steven shook his head, he was starting to bum himself out and he didn't want to do that with all the good that he was getting to experience. The new sights and sounds- even though he really couldn't hear that much in the air ship. He and Connie had gotten to go along with the Avatar to a new place and who knows what could happen. As far as the Kuvira supporters, he also hoped that they'd be able to help in some way or another even if it was small. Once everything was going a bit better, then they'd be able to get back to looking for a way home and this time Lapis would be going with them. Things were going to be okay.

During all his thinking, he hadn't realized he had his face pressed against the window until he felt Connie's hand pulling him back a bit, "It's beautiful but we don't need you pushing yourself through the window." she laughed.

This had been enough to fully shake him from his thoughts and he nodded, "Right right." he said laughing a bit, "It's just so amazing, even better than airplanes, though, I think I prefer flying on Oogie instead."

"I think I agree with you." Connie nodded, but they're both things I never thought I'd experience in my life. Much less in another world."

"Yeah, all sorts of unexpected things have been happening since we got here." he agreed, "I wonder what else will happen by the time we get home."

"Who knows." she said, sitting next to him as they both went back to watching the window below and the desert and rocky surroundings that were appearing.

It was after they had flown over these for a while that Korra was walked over to them, "How are you two doing so far?"

"We're doing good I think, right Connie?" Steven answered and Connie nodded as well.

"There's just so much to see, whenever we can I'd love to learn more about the geography here, me and Steven read a bit at the library but in a whole new world there's a whole lot more to learn." Connie added.

"When we reach ZaoFu you'll both have plenty of time to do your research, they have a pretty good library from what I heard and saw." Korra smiled.

"Speaking of ZaoFu, what's it like?" Steven asked. "And, when are we going to get there?" Yes he was enjoying the ride but he was also pretty excited to land and explore a bit especially as he didn't know much about this new place.

"Well." Korra began, "It's a city made entirely of metal in the center of a valley, it's quite a cool sight actually, especially during the day when you can see it reflecting the sunlight. At night it used to have domes made out of metal that would close to protect it and while Kuvira may have dismantled it I've heard they're trying to put it back together again. The city itself was made by metal benders too and as for the people who live there they're some of the best metal and earthbenders in the world." Korra explained, Steven was already trying to think of what it would look like in his head, "As for your other question, we're a little more than halfway there but we're still going to be stopping soon to check out a village that's been having...trouble recently. It shouldn't take long and then we'll be in the sky again."

"What kind of trouble?" Steven asked. Even more excited to reach the city but now growing a bit concerned about trouble they could face on the way.

"Kuvira supporters, there were a few in this upcoming village who've been doing a lot of harm with their actions and since we're going to be passing through regardless we decided it wouldn't hurt for us to try and help."

Steven and Connie nodded, "Right but then, does that mean we get to help?" Connie asked hopefully.

Korra shook her head, "For now no, we don't know exactly what these people will be willing to do and on the off chance the so called 'traitor' we were warned about has contacts there we don't want you two to be found out. So while we're gone you two will stay with Bolin. Me, Asami, and Mako will be in the car so you'll be able to contact us through the radio in case something happens."

"I guess that makes sense." he said, he was again, a bit disappointed that at their first stop they'd have to stay inside the ship but Korra did make an excellent point.

"Great now in the meantime just try and relax Even though it seems like you two have already been doing that just by enjoying the view."

"It is pretty incredible." Connie said.

Korra smiled, "It definitely is."

* * *

The ship began to descend a little more than an hour later in the rough rocky land around a mile or two from the village team Avatar was going to be visiting. Asami had done a good job in there landing thankfully and had avoided crashing into any of the rock formations near them. If Steven had to guess they'd chosen to park here in case any of the supporters decided to try something funny and not in the 'haha' sort of way.

Asami, Mako, and Korra went towards the back of the ship where sure enough a Satomobile as Steven had learned to call it was waiting and after a brief instruction on how to contact them in case Bolin couldn't help with the radio, they were racing away.

Steven watched the car drive away, leaving a plume of dust in its wake as most of Team Avatar left him, Connie, and Bolin to stay behind. Since the village was a bit of a distance away and because there may be more work for Korra and them than they may have guessed, the group hadn't given them much of an idea of how long they were going to be gone.

To make things a bit worse, Connie and Steven had been told to stay inside the ship just in case there were any spying eyes about. Though admittedly he found that doubtful at this point in time, he still trusted Korra's judgement, she was the Avatar after all, even if he was yet to be 100% sure about what that entailed.

In order to pass the time while they were waiting, Steven tried to start a game of I spy at one point but when all you have is rocks, rocks, and more rocks outside and a mostly clear finished ship inside it got a bit boring pretty quickly.

Connie suggested that they practice in case they had to fight after all but without a sword or any shape that could really be of use in true practicing she was left to awkwardly miming it. Bolin did offer to help Steven out with his own fighting but given that his weapon was a shield Bolin could only really help as target practice for Steven to throw his shield at and with that setup if felt to Steven like more of a glorified game of frisbee. That of course wasn't necessarily a bad thing as in the end it did help to pass the time and when Connie gave up on her sword miming it really was fun as a game. When the shield crashed into a light fixture though and almost knocked it down they had to put it away. Even if they hadn't it was still a bit tiring for Steven to summon the shield as much as he had but hey it just meant even more practice for him.

The next few hours really went by without anything more noteworthy happening. It was an utterly boring experience, especially considering there was quite literally a whole new world just outside the windows for them to experience. It was frustrating too but again, Steven supposed there was nothing much for him to do and Connie and Bolin weren't doing much of anything either, the latter of which seemed to be dozing off himself from the lack of activity.

Steven felt himself following soon after while Connie decided to busy herself with reading some instruction books for some new gadget in this world even though said gadget wasn't even on the ship. He wasn't too sure what it was really but was for once too tired to worry about it or its creator, some man by the name of Varrick who seemed to love putting his name into products.

Before the sun went down though and still before Korra and everyone else made their return, Steven was quite literally thrown from his snoozing spot on one of the ship's chairs by something large and heavy crashing into the air ship making it shake. "Wahh!" he yelled in surprise as he fell onto the ground now fully awake, "W-what's going on?!"

"The ship's being attacked!" Connie yelled out, already on her feet as she was running to the window, as soon as Steven got to his feet again he'd followed her over along with Bolin to see clouds of dust and debris charging towards them. In the coming storm he saw flashes of hands and faces of those responsible for moving the earth in this way.

"They must be Kuvira supporters." Bolin quickly deduced, "But how'd they know we were-" another hit almost sent the ship on its side, "here!" he finished, spotting a rather large rock coming their way and bending it off to the side even from within the ship.

"We can figure it out later but we need to stop them from destroying the ship and us with it!" Connie said, watching the ship get surrounded by the earthbenders.

"Maybe we should try talking to them? At least then one of us could call Korra and the others so they could come and help while we talk. They might not attack us during that time." Steven suggested and Bolin nodded.

"Alright, I'll head out, you guys call Korra. Hopefully they'll give me a chance to talk because I don't know how long I can handle that many earthbenders at once not to mention alone." he admitted before heading for the exit ramp of the ship, thankfully the attacks from the outside had slowed by now if not stopped completely now that the ship was surrounded.

"Let's get to the radio then." Connie said, darting in the direction of the ship's control room, once Steven had caught up she'd already begun talking to Korra.

"How many are there?" Korra asked from the other end.

"We didn't see, they were hiding in a small sandstorm so it was really hard to tell, they've got the ship surrounded though so it has to be a lot." Connie answered.

"They're not attacking anymore now but they're still out there. Bolin is trying and talk to them." Steven added as he leaned in to speak in the radio. "He said that he might not be able to handle them all if they do try and attack again…."

It was Mako who spoke this time, "I wouldn't worry all that much about Bolin, he's a tough bender and not to mention one of the only lava benders around. He can handle a few other earthbenders but you're right, he can't fight them forever." he said, "We're going to be heading back soon, if you can tell him to stall for time until then."

"As for you two, stay in the ship, don't leave unless it seems like it might get destroyed, it's a sturdy model but it can still only take so much." Asami cut in, "You two need to be careful too after all, keep us posted if anything else happens before we get there."

"Right. Over and out." Connie said before turning the radio off. "Looks like we just have to sit and watch again…" she sighed.

Steven felt the same about the situation, he'd always hated having to stay home from missions while the gems went out to fight dangerous monsters, if something happened out there, there was nothing he could do even though thankfully nothing did. As for this situation, it wasn't three gems versus one or two mindless monsters, it was their single friend facing down a group of powerful benders all alone until backup arrived in who knows how long. If the benders did attack, it likely wouldn't end well. So no, it wasn't the exact situation he'd had to handle back in Beach City during his earlier days with the gems. One thing that had definitely changed, was that he could handle himself pretty well now, and so could Connie, even if they couldn't fight fight these benders, they could at least provide a source of backup until the others came back. He still had his shield after all and he was sure he'd still be able to summon it as Stevonnie.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Connie asked, Steven hadn't realized it but she'd been watching him since they'd hung up the radio. She must've been trying to figure things out like he had.

"Probably." he said, "If you're thinking about Stevonnie."

She extended her hand, "That I was." she said, a determined look on her face that was matched by Steven's own as he took her hand.

The dance was simple and quick, the two of them having gotten rather accustomed to it from their previous times and each time they felt they got the hang of it a little more. Their forms were covered in light and when it had dissipated, Stevonnie stood in their place, "Alright, remember, we only attack if they've started to attack. We don't want to be the instigator." they said.

"Right but just in case we should still have the shield ready, in case someone tries to do a sneak attack or something and so they don't see the whole glowing thing." they also said, taking a deep breath, "Then again, we've never tried to summon the shield as Stevonnie before."

They nodded silently before putting their hand near their gem and focussing in the same way Steven once had to in order to summon it. To their surprise though, instead of the shield forming at first it was instead Rose's sword.

"Is this normal? Have you ever, summoned her sword before?"

"No never….I-I thought it was in Lion's mane?" they said in confusion, looking at the sword which was certainly that of Rose Quartz, it made no sense but they didn't have much time to contemplate it as they heard a rock collide with the ship again.

They turned to face the exit now and quickly headed in that direction, "Think we can summon the shield too? We still need something to protect us?"

"I don't know." they said as they ran, they reached for the gem again and with another glow Steven's shield had formed on their left arm, "This is so weird, I'll have to ask the gems about it when we get back."

"Right but for now we have something bigger to focus on." they said as they reached the exit where Bolin was thankfully not yet fighting but things still weren't looking too good either as many of the benders held boulders ready to be thrown while Bolin stalled.

All attention turned to Stevonnie once they left the ship and they found many a glare pointed at them, attacks being threatened in their direction now. "And who is this?" a woman towards the front demanded and Bolin had to turn around to see them himself and immediately looked concerned.

"Oh that's…" he began.

"I'm Stevonnie." they answered, sword and shield lowered for now, "I wanted to see what all the commotion was about."

The woman eyed the weapons suspiciously, "Are you traveling with the Avatar too then?" she asked.

"We ar- I mean, I am." they nodded. "The two of us," they gestured to Bolin, "Were actually waiting for her and the rest of our friends to return before you well, attacked us."

"And they left you two here with the ship then? Knowing that we've been monitoring the area in and around the village?"

"Err, she didn't phrase it like that, but yes we knew, we just didn't think you'd outright attack us." Stevonnie said, "Why did you attack us though, we didn't give you any reason to."

The woman glared at them, "No reason to? No reason to!?" she exclaimed angrily, her sudden raise in voice startling Stevonnie back ever so slightly and they prepared to raise their shield in response to a possible attack, "Avatar Korra put an end to one of the greatest periods of prosperity the Earth Nation had seen in millenia. She threw Kuvira in prison for trying to help her people!"

There were a few yells of agreement from the others in the gathered mob but they still hadn't attacked. Bolin was making his way up to stand by Stevonnie though so if a fight did break out they'd be able to cover each other. "From my understanding Kuvira surrendered willingly and accepted her punishment." they said, they knew it may not have been the best thing to bring up but they still wanted to put it out there. "And besides...the Earth Nation may have gotten stronger but many many people were still suffering. Kuvira realized that and that's why she surrendered."

The woman scoffed, "How the hell would you know that? How do you know that your precious Avatar didn't trick the world into thinking that? Or that she didn't threaten Kuvira into surrendering? Our great leader would never back down once she was so close to glory."

"Kuvira had been defeated and she'd only had the gun of her mech left and that blast tore another portal to the Spirit World. There wasn't anything more she could do and she knew that." Bolin added, "Listen, I worked with Kuvira for a while and while she was stubborn she wasn't stupid, she knew that she had lost and she knew she had messed up, so all of your protesting if anything is just further hurting her respect."

"If you worked with her and have the gall to talk about her like that now, then you're just a filthy traitor! I don't even know why I let you talk this long, we should have just continued attacking you!" she hissed, and with that she hurled a chunk of rock towards Stevonnie and Bolin. They knew that at least for now this group of people was beyond reason.

Despite Bolin being an earthbender himself, it was Stevonnie whose reflexes kicked in faster and who blocked the rock aimed at them with their shield.

Once the onslaught of more earthbending centered attacks continued though Bolin joined in and picked up the slack against the seemingly endless barrage of rocks, but because of their nearness to the airship neither he or stevvonie could go on the offensive. The closest that Bolin could manage was forming a ring of lava around them and the ship but that didn't do much either and as the hits kept coming they were thrown from it anyways and onto the ground.

An earthbender tried to use this to his advantage as he attempted to create a hole to crush them or possibly just capture them, Stevonnie would never be sure which one but in order to prevent either they summoned Steven's bubble around them while the shield and sword fell to the floor and vanished into light. Their attackers briefly looked stunned by the appearance of the sudden pink bubble around the two but not enough for them to hold off their attack for long as their bubble of protection began to get thrown around.

"How did you make this!?" Boline asked, trying to keep his balance as they were thrown about inside.

"It's a gem thing but I may only be able to hold it for so long!" Stevonnie yelled back. The instant the bubble dropped they wouldn't have much if any time to bounce back and fight. They needed to find a way to either get away or fight them off and as they thought they got an idea of how to do both, "Bolin, do you guys have pinball here?" they asked and when they glanced back to see his confused face they elaborated, "Okay, basic idea, you use little flipper like things to knock a ball around a board to get poi-" they explained but were partially cut off as they were thrown into the ship creating a bad dent in its side. "We're the pinball, and I think you can use your earthbending like flippers to knock us into and past them."

"I think I get what you mean but there's still too many of them, we can probably do this a while bu-" they were thrown into it again, "But we can't beat them all." Bolin pointed out, trying to get the best footing he could to bend a ramp of rock to roll them away slightly.

"I know, we're going to have to abandon the ship." Stevonnie sighed, helping to keep the balance of the bubble as Bolin slammed them past a shield of rock that a bender had tried to stop them with. "That or try and wait for Korra and the others but even then we'll be in a bad spot if we can even last that long."

Bolin nodded, he knew what they meant and from what he could see Stevonnie was already struggling to keep the bubble up, "Alright let's get running then." he said before bending a short wall up around them and then moving the earth under their bubble to act rather like a speedy conveyor belt to get them out of there.

When Stevonnie saw that they were still pursued though, their hopes dropped slightly, "They're catching up fast!" Bolin said, trying to increase their own pace but that only lead to them having a harder time keeping up with the bubble.

They only got so fast before one of them, they never knew who, tripped and they both began rolling in it until the bubble popped and they were thrown to the ground. Despite being dizzy, they both got to their feet and Stevonnie summoned the shield but couldn't get the sword again for some reason, perhaps like the shield they needed to practice.

Bolin had also gotten back into a battle stance pretty quickly and had formed another moat of lava around them, hoping that it would least slow them down. "Okay, any more plans, or bubbles?" he asked,

2h agohis voice almost sounding frantic as they were completely caught up with.

"I don't think I can form another, and no…." Stevonnie admitted, raising their shield, they had to guess their voice sounded just as frantic, "We're going to have to fight them so…..I-I'll take the ones on the left….you can take the ones on the right?"

"That could work…" he said, though he definitely didn't sound convinced, "We're still in a very bad spot though…."

"We can...get out of this…" they said, though really, they felt like this could very well be the end of them or at least the start of something awful.

With the arrival of what looked like a sandstorm, things looked especially bleak but once it came closer, Stevonnie realized it was none other than the Avatar herself, standing on top of the car while her and Mako worked towards fighting the attackers back and making their way towards Bolin and Stevonnie, Asami navigated them through the chunks of rock and debris their attackers used to try to knock them over.

It wasn't long before the car had reached them, "Get in." Asami said and neither needed to be told twice, Asami was already getting the car in motion when Bolin had jumped in followed by Stevonnie who quickly put their seatbelt on.

"What happened!?" Korra yelled, balancing incredibly well on the car it seemed but Stevonnie noticed she had some sort of a cable holding her on. "I thought you said they'd stopped attacking!"

"They did for a while!" Stevonnie yelled back, "But it didn't look good so Steven and Connie wanted to try and help talk them down!"

"It didn't go well!" Bolin added, bending their car out of the way of a pillar of rock that had formed. "And it wasn't looking well before Stevonnie showed up."

"You didn't stay in the ship like we told you!?" Mako asked, firing away another group of bullet like pebbles. It was to be noted that the attacks weren't coming in as hard anymore.

"If we had we'd have either been crushed inside of the ship or Bolin could have been captured, or worse!"

"Really this may not be the best time to be arguing about this!" Asami said.

"Asami's right!" Korra yelled, shooting a gust of wind behind them to try and speed them forward and the benders back, "We're starting to lose them but I'd rather have this conversation one we're as far away as possible."

Bolin nodded, he and Mako adding to their speed in their own ways to get away and thankfully before long they had gotten quite a distance and from the looks of it their pursuers had given up.

Once the coast was clear, Stevonnie shimmered in light again before Steven and Connie awkwardly fell on the seats of the car making it a bit more cramped than it already was. "That's the first time they've attacked us, or anyone for that matter like that." Korra commented, having slid into the passenger's seat now that there was no immediate danger. "There've been a few skrimishes but nothing like that, what did you do that got them so mad at you?"

"Actually, they said the same thing you and most other people have been saying for a while." Bolin answered, "Just how Kuvira chose to surrender and the circumstances leading up to it, and before we knew it they were going all out on us."

"Stevonnie managed to make a bubble to protect us for a while but eventually it popped too." Steven said.

"And that's about when you guys showed up." Connie added. "And just in time too, I don't think we could have held Stevonnie much longer after all that fighting."

Korra nodded, "Well, I guess you didn't do too bad with the situation you were placed in, and with how they were fighting, without your bubble Bolin could have ended up worse. "

Steven decided to take it as a compliment, "Thanks but we're still really sorry things ended up the way they did."

"It wasn't your fault, if they attacked like that knowing you were outnumbered like that they were definitely not in a negotiating mood in the first place." Asami assured him.

"Alright…" Steven said.

"So, what's the plan now?" Connie asked.

"The airship's destroyed, when you guys made your escape they trashed it." Korra explained, "So we're going to drive to ZaoFu instead and once there I think it'll be safer for you two to stay until this gets sorted out."

"Okay." Steven and Connie both said.

"Wait Steven, did you leave Lapis's gem in the ship?!" Connie asked, the realization suddenly hit her and she felt bad for taking so long to remember the water gem.

He shook his head and reached into his pocket to pull out the teardrop shaped gem, "No..but I almost did and I'm really glad that I didn't now."

"How long is she going to be in there anyways?" Bolin asked, leaning over to glance at the gem.

"I don't know, for Pearl it took 2 weeks and Amethyst could in two minutes. I think, I think she'll come back when she's ready." Steven tried to explain.

"Can she hear us from in there?" Korra asked.

"I don't think so, but then again, I still don't know a lot of things about gems…" Steven said and then continued his sentence quietly, "But if you can, I hope we can see you again soon."

* * *

 **And that's the chapter! Happy New Years guys by the way and how about that Steven Bomb? We learned a lot about the characters but so far nothing that will change this too much. As for the character Yuu, she is actually based around concept art the creators of the show made towards the start of Legend of Korra for an unused design for Lin largely in hair style and partially in facial shape. You can see the sketches of which** **vignette1)wikia)nocookie)net/avatar/images/d/d3/Lin_concept_art)png/revision/latest?cb=20130705094920 (replace parentheses with periods), only a bit younger as Lin in the concept art is well into her forties. You'll learn more about her soon.**

 **Thanks again for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello it's me again and sorry it's taken so long and there is actually some bad news, umm, my health has taken a nosedive. I sorta got hit by a bunch of different things at once and it's been a string of doctor's appointments one after the other. Now, don't worry, this story will certainly continue but as I've mentioned before unfortunately it will still be at a much slower rate, I'll try to keep the gaps from getting too bad though.**  
 **In happier news, this story has reached 100 follows, more than I ever dreamed and I'm just so so grateful for that and the amount of reviews and faves as well, thank you so so much!**

* * *

With the loss of the airship, the journey to Zaofu had been extended from only a few hours to closer to a day's time to reach. The bumps and cracks in the road not helping at all and with the Sun long set, Korra couldn't help but feel vulnerable in the chilly night. If they had been followed after all, it would be harder to spot an oncoming attack and even if it wasn't as dark as it was they were an easy target given the exhausted state they were all in.

The kids, Steven and Connie seemed to be the most worn from the ordeal as they'd fallen asleep soon after the initial excitement had faded. If Korra had to guess, she assumed it was because they had fused in order to fight off their attackers and the idea of sharing a mind with someone else seemed tiring enough without the added situation of trying to keep both of its parts alive in a fight.

As for Korra, she hadn't been able to get the slightest wink of sleep, the rockiness of the road jolting her awake each time she'd tried to rest. It was difficult but at the very least she supposed it would be easier to keep an eye out for an oncoming attack even if she wouldn't be in the best state to fight it.

Mako, Bolin, and of course Asami who had refused to give up the wheel were still awake as well and they all looked as exhausted as Korra felt. At the village they'd gone to investigate, they too had needed to handle another group of violent Kuvira supporters who were determined it seemed to cause as much destruction as possible. They weren't as numerous as the ones who had attacked the ship at least and though it had taken the better part of the day they'd finally managed to scare off or help arrest them once the police had arrived on the scene.

Kuvira's supporters -for one reason or another- had evidently decided to start actively seeking out fights it seemed as opposed to the few isolated cases they'd seen up until this point and that wasn't a good sign. Over the past year Korra had almost finished helping Wu with his proposed plan to bring the Earth Kingdom into a series of democratic states but now it didn't seem like they would stay that way if these supporters had any plans similar to the ones Kuvira once had.

With how organized they were becoming and how the plan had been carried out, Korra was suspecting that the supporters were acting under someone. Their attacks on both the ship and the village on the same day were to perfectly timed to not have been planned in some way and to not have had outside influence that notified them that team Avatar had arrived. Korra wondered if maybe it had anything to do with the traitor Jasper had mentioned, perhaps whoever they were still had information on them even when they'd been in the skies.

She planned to bring it up to the team once they'd all had at least a bit of time to recover in Zaofu as sitting in the car with everyone dead tired from the day's events wouldn't be too productive.

She looked over her shoulder at Steven and Connie, another unexpected turn of events in this whole ordeal but perhaps the only one that had had some good come from it. They were good kids and despite the circumstances they'd just kept marching on, even fighting to help protect their new friends. Korra wished she could find a way to send them home and back to their families but for now all she could do was help keep them safe. Having them stay in Zaofu was the best way she could think of doing it as even without its domes she still considered it one of the safest places in the world.

Steven and Connie wouldn't like the idea, she was sure about that, they'd insist they could handle a fight if needed and while she didn't doubt that they could she didn't want to risk their safety on a conflict not even belonging to their world. She'd wait until they reached Zaofu to bring that fact up as well.

"A lot on your mind?" Asami asked, glancing at Korra from the corner of her eye and if Korra could she would have offered to take the wheel for a while, Asami looked positively exhausted but unlike everyone else she didn't have the luxury to rest.

She gave a heavy sigh, "Definitely, everything was going great and then now we have so much happening at once...it….."

"It feels like the fate of the world is hanging in the balance again?"

"Yeah it kinda does." Korra nodded, she'd been trying to think of a word to explain it but Asami had hit the nail on the head, "I mean, I know things haven't gotten to that point, at least, as far as we know, but it's still a lot to handle now that we have these gems and these kids to worry about in addition to the Kuvira supporters. It's crazy!" she exclaimed but quickly quieted herself down again so as not to wake up the kids.

Asami nodded her head, "We've always had to deal with crazy things though and we'll get through this like we get through everything else. It's just….a bit different this time."

"I know but for once I'd like it if the world could be brought to peace and actually stay in peace for longer than a few years."

"Don't we all? But maybe once this is settled who knows? Let's just enjoy the relative peace we have right now, once we leave Zaofu things are going to start picking up again after all."

"You're right, and we can probably afford to let things slow down for a little bit while we're there at least. What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

Steven blinked his eyes open, the light from the rising sun irritating his eyes and was finally enough to wake him up even when all of the bumps in the road hadn't so much as made him stir. He sat up from his slouching position and stretched, noticing immediately how stiff he had gotten over the night from having to sleep in such a crowded car seat. He yawned and looked around the landscape which had since changed from a rocky desert like plain to that filled with trees and covered in grass.

"Good morning." Connie smiled after she'd yawned herself, from what he could tell she'd only woken up shortly before him, her eyes still heavy with exhaustion from the previous day's events.

"Yeah, good morning. How'd you sleep, hopefully better than the rest of us." Bolin laughed and from the looks of him and his brother's faces Steven quickly concluded that he and Connie had been the only ones to get any kind of rest during the trip.

"Umm, yeah actually.." he nodded, feeling a bit bad for that fact.

"Good to hear, we're going to be reaching Zaofu in about an hour." Asami added and through the rearview mirror Steven noticed that she looked the most tired out of the group, "And once we're there we'll all have a chance to get some rest." she added.

"We're definitely going to need it." Mako nodded.

"Yeah, haven't slept that bad since we were on the streets." Bolin agreed.

"We'll all get a decent night's sleep soon, we'll be there a few days." Korra said, "And then we'll be off, where to will depend on what we find out when we get there since we lost the radio we really don't know what else to expect."

Steven and Connie nodded, "Sounds good, I think, it would be great to sleep on an actual bed." Connie said.

"It would have been great to sleep at all." Mako grumbled receiving a glare from Bolin, "What? It would have."

The rest of the trip didn't have much more conversation, everyone was just too tired to talk more than necessary, Steven and Connie certainly included even with their bits of sleep they'd managed to get.

Steven actually felt himself start to doze off again at one point in the relative silence but was jolted awake by the reflection of sunlight on something large in the distance, he struggled to see what it was, squinting his eyes against the brightness. It took a moment, but he was able to make out the outline of what looked like five smaller cities connecting to one another through rail lines in the distance, situated in the middle of a valley, sure enough, it was all made of metal just by the glare it produced.

"I-is that? Zaofu?" Steven asked, eyes wide with wonder as he leaned forward in his seat, Connie doing the same behind him.

"Yeah, pretty cool isn't it?" Korra grinned, "You should have seen it when it still had its domes, they almost looked like flower petals."

Asami pushed on the pedal a bit more now that they were so close, "I can only imagine." Connie nodded, having to sit back down so as not to be thrown off balance from almost entirely standing up inside the car.

Now that the goal was in sight, Steven felt like the last lap took no time at all and they were reaching the entrance faster than he could sing the Crystal Gem's Theme Song.

From the looks of the city and how it was raised well above the ground, it seemed that it was definitely intended to be accessed by aircraft or maybe in some cases flying bison. Now, this didn't mean that they were completely with no way to get into the city, it just meant they were left pulling the car into a rather oddly shaped elevator that pulled them up a chute with what felt like metal bending.

It was actually kind of exhilarating, almost like a ride at Funland which actually gave him an idea to bring up to Mr. Smiley once they got back.

Once they reached the top and the literal light at the end of the tunnel, they were greeted by a group of people wearing a similar style of outfit that incorporated the metal the people here were apparently so well known for along with the greens of the earth kingdom, it looked nice and one of them in particular stood out to Steven as their leader.

"Su!" Korra smiled, walking over to this woman and giving her a hug which the woman gladly returned.

"Hello again Korra! It's been too long." Suyin said as she went on to greet Asami, Mako, and Bolin as well, finishing at Connie and Steven who had chosen to stick to the back of the group. "And these must be the kids you told me about?"

"Yes ma'am." Connie nodded, "And umm, you must be Suyin Beifong, we've heard a lot about you, it's great to meet you."

"It's great to meet you as well and I've heard a lot about you kids too." she nodded. "But, I've also heard you've had one heck of a journey, we can talk a bit more once we're inside so follow me, you must be exhausted."

Bolin chuckled, "Oh, we definitely are."

"Then we'd best be going before you fall asleep on your feet." she said, leading them back towards what Steven saw as another tunnel while the car was taken by a few guards in another direction.

Speaking of guards, there were quite a few leading them to the rail way into the rest of the city, a bit more than he thought would be necessary and though he thought to bring it up he decided he'd leave it for later.

Their little group along with a few guards and a man whom Suyin introduced as her husband Bataar climbed into a train like cart which Steven Marvelled at, sorta reminding him of the ones at a theme park he'd visited when he was only about five years old.

"You kids have heard of Zaofu correct?" Suyin asked as they passed through the tunnel, Steven and Connie nodded.

"We have and we even read up a little bit on it too though nothing really big big. We never thought we'd get to visit." Steven said.

Suyin nodded, "In that case, what do you know about the city?"

"Well, it's the first city made entirely, or at least almost entirely made of metal, it's one of the most technologically advanced cities in not only the Earth Kingdom but the entire world, and it's also home to the largest group of metal benders in the world." Connie listed off.

"Very good Connie." Suyin nodded, "It's also one of the earth kingdom's newest cities given the relative recentness of metal bending in general."

"Right, wasn't it, Toph Beifong who discovered it?" Steven asked, also a bit late to make a realization, "Wait, right you're Chief Beifong's sister then, so then, you're also Toph's daughter?"

Korra gave a small laugh, "They're pretty different aren't they?"

"I guess so." Connie said as the train pulled out of the tunnel and back into open air.

"Anyways, speaking of our Mother," Suyin began but need not continue as a tall statue of a young and proud Toph Beifong came into view, holding up some sort of sphere. Steven and Connie moved towards the window to get a closer look.

"Giant Woman." Steven muttered, admiring the statue that looked even larger than Alexandrite come and go as they sped towards the center of the city.

"My husband Bataar," Suyin began to which he gave a small wave, "Helped to design every aspect of the city including the statue and now he's even redesigning the domes."

"That's really cool." Connie nodded, "I was thinking about getting into architecture myself for a while actually, I doubt I could ever make something as incredible as an entire city though."

"You'll never know unless you try." Asami was the one to speak this time and Bataar nodded to this.

"Exactly, if I had thought like that well, I may have still been stuck working at my father's koala sheep farm." Bataar said, "But Connie, if you are interested in architecture, perhaps during your stay you could stop by my office and I can show you some of what I've been working on."

The train was slowing to a stop but Connie nodded her head, "Yes yes please that would be awesome thank-" she was caught off guard by the sudden yawn that left her, "You." she finished.

"First we all need to get some sleep, despite you two being the only ones to get any sleep on the way over." Korra said as they exited the train to the center of Zaofu that was rather bustling by now as people went about their daily lives.

"Right, then we can look around, I can't wait to explore." Steven smiled, eager as ever and while tempted to insist that he was just fine he could still feel the call of sleep that had barely been answered during the car ride.

"Good then, there's still room at the house you four stayed in the last few times." Suyin said, nodding to some of the buildings not far off and the group nodded, "There's also plenty of room there for you two, and over the radio, Asami mentioned some one else?"

Steven and Connie shot a glance to each other as Steven's hand went to his pocket, "Umm, Mrs. Beifong, did they tell you about the gems and all that stuff?" he asked.

"My sister filled me in on some of the details when she told me you were coming and then Asami mentioned a bit over the radio as I told you."

"Well, then yes but she might not be here for a little while." he said, pulling out the blue, tear shaped gem, still keeping it close to himself but allowing Suyin to see it.

She looked at it in confusion for a moment but there was a flicker of recognition, "That's right, Lin mentioned...well alright, if she returns to you while you're here she'll be welcome to stay." she finally nodded.

"Thank you." Steven said before following the rest of the group to the area Suyin had motioned to moments before.

The house was simply designed with the similar greens most earth kingdom buildings had though being made by metal benders there were plenty of metallic decorations and adornments to indicate this.

Steven could have very well spent a good deal of time admiring and looking around the rest of the house and if he wasn't as exhausted as he was he probably would have. This of course was not the case and he followed behind Bolin and Mako while Connie stayed with Korra and Asami. The house had only two rooms and it seemed like it would be the easiest way to split the group up so no room was too crowded.

By now, he could feel his tiredness fully catching up to him and he later would not remember his journey from the hall to the bed.

* * *

It didn't take long at all for everyone in the house to fall fast asleep. It had been an exhausting journey and their troubles were just beginning, they needed all the rest they could possibly get.

The room the boys slept in was dark, the curtains drawn tight to keep the light out as it was still the afternoon outside. On the stand next to where Steven slept, blanket pulled up over his head, sat Lapis's blue gem.

Everyone needed their rest, but for the gem who lay dormant within, her time was up and the tear shape began to glow in a brilliant light, rising through the air and across the room as a shape began to take form around it, initially resembling something similar to a doll of some sort.

Steven blinked at the light as she reformed and sat up rubbing his eyes, Mako and Bolin doing the same but sooner to jump into a precautionary defence position as they watched Lapis take shape and land delicately on the floor.

A flame formed at the tip of Mako's hand and Bolin was ready to pull in an attack from the outside if necessary but Lapis hadn't even noticed them yet. She was instead looking around the room from where she stood, seeing what looked like yet another prison to her with its sturdy walls and metal lining.

It wasn't until she heard Steven jump out of bed and run to her that she bothered to look behind her. She saw Steven and felt a hint of relief that he was safe but seeing the two behind him poised to attack well. She did the only thing she thought to do as she pushed Steven behind her.

She could feel plenty of water running below where she stood and without another thought she forced it up and towards the two before Steven could so much as explain the situation.

It broke through any outlet it could causing a fair amount of damage as it shot towards them, sending them out through the wall which thankfully wasn't completely made of metal as it may have looked.

"Lapis what are you doing!?" Steven asked in a panic.

"They were going to attack, come on we need to get out of here." she said, wings forming and taking his hand before making a rush to the hole in the wall she had just created.

"Lapis they weren't going to...they've been helping us these past few days they were just startled or something." he said as she tried to fly up, only to feel a tug on her wings, on her water in general and looking down she saw a very vaguely familiar human to evidently be the one responsible.

Lapis tried to free herself from the human's evident control of water but had a surprising amount of trouble doing so as she was pulled down. "They're still attacking us." she told him, sending a wave of water at Korra to break her concentration but the other two had already jumped back into the fray and Bolin was presently guarding Korra from Lapis's counter attacks with earth based barrages.

"Well yeah, it sorta looks like you're kidnapping me." he said.

She didn't exactly recognize the word but by now multiple metal benders were on the scene and were trying to help stop Lapis's attack. This only further convinced her own assertion that they were in danger and she increased the power behind her attacks that much more, pushing the metal benders back easily and attempted to do the same with Korra and her friends when she felt something about her water change.

Admittedly, since she had reformed her control over water hadn't felt the same, like there was something else affecting it and she'd felt something similar but stronger when Korra had tried to attack her. Now though, she could see the change as the water leading up to her and even the water that her wings were comprised began to crystallize into what she realized was ice.

The new lack of control meant she was stuck on the ground with Steven, her water now out of reach, and surrounded by those who she believed to be enemies. "Stay behind me Steven."

Korra was walking over to them hands now raised defensively, "Are you Lapis?"

"How do you know my name?!" Lapis demanded.

Steven pushed himself from behind her, "Because I told them!" he said looking at Lapis and sighing, "If you'd given me a bit of time to talk I could have explained this to you. After the fight with Malachite Jasper came after me and they've been helping us out with that and a bunch of other things. They're really good people and they want to help us."

"Help us? With what?"

"For starters, Jasper is still on his and your tail." Korra said walking up to them, Lapis tensed up a bit, remembering her now as one of the ones who had helped to defeat her as Malachite.

"And then there's something else you need to know about too that's a bit harder to explain." Connie added, Lapis recognized her as well from those first days on Earth as the human who had fought with Steven when she'd 'borrowed' the ocean.

"So can you please just hear us out? No one here wants to hurt you I promise." Steven said as he tried to give her his best reassuring smile.

Lapis thought on it for a moment and slowly nodded, "Alright, but can you fix this first?" she said, gesturing to her wings and the water around them that had been turned to ice.

"You promise you won't attack now?"

"Only if you don't."

Korra nodded as she easily let the water return to its liquid state, Lapis felt relieved as she had the feeling of control again even though she could still feel another presence weakly influencing the water.

"Okay. Tell me what happened."

* * *

 **There we are! Thanks again for reading and again sorry for the wait I've been in and out of the hospital so it can be a bit tricky to upload at times, anywho though I got a PM during this time asking about what I listen to when I write (for some reason this seems to be a common question for people) and the answer is that I don't really listen to anything in particular though I do find myself going to the RWBY soundtrack pretty often and I suggest you check it out some time, especially for some of the fight scenes and all as that's when I'd listen to it the most!**

 **Lastly, thanks again to Honorboundfate for editing!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry! I know it's been a while but let's say the last few months of Junior year and even summer have been….difficult, I won't bore ya with the details but it's been rough and I'm just so sorry it's been so long since this fic updated but don't worry it will be continued for sure as I want to see it through to the end!**

 **Thanks for sticking around and hopefully next chapter will be up soon!**

* * *

Lapis sat quietly next to Steven inside the rather large room they'd been asked to head to after her short rampage. Her eyes darted from person to person in the room, carefully monitoring them in case any showed signs of aggression towards herself or to Steven. Even though Steven had said they had helped them so far, she knew nothing about the humans that sat across from them or stood around the room.

There was Korra to begin with, Lapis remembered her from when she was fighting her as Malachite and from what Steven had mentioned she had helped to defeat and capture Jasper. And her friends Mako, Asami, and Bolin had helped in fighting Malachite as well. This, she suppose, would have been a feat for any human she'd ever seen, only, they weren't like any other humans she had met. They had powers she'd only seen Gems use and that is what drew most of her suspicions.

Aside from those four, there was also another who introduced herself as Suyin Beifong and from the way she carried herself, Lapis had only assumed she was in a position of power. Her idea had been confirmed when she had mentioned she was the Matriarch of the city of Zaofu. She seemed kind enough but after Lapis's last return to Homeworld, she wasn't too trusting of people in power anymore.

Finally, there was Connie who sat next to Steven and seemed rather distrusting of Lapis herself. Lapis recognized Connie as one of the two human's she'd seen shortly after Lapis had reformed from the mirror. She hadn't paid much attention to the girl then, only enough for her to be able to hold her and Steven back from trying to get through to Lapis's water tower. It occurred to Lapis that that may have also been where Connie's distrust came from but she didn't really care either way.

"So then Lapis, it's wonderful to meet you." Suyin said, breaking the silence that had covered the room since the group's arrival, "Steven had mentioned another one of his friends was going to be joining us soon, I hadn't quite imagined someone as unique as you though to be honest." she smiled.

"I wasn't expecting to meet humans like this group either." Lapis responded.

"Ye-yeah we're an interesting bunch, us, humans." Bolin said with an unsure smile, evidently trying to break the awkward tension in the air.

Mako caught on to what his brother was doing as he tried to help in the conversation, "So ah, how are you today?"

"Are you really gonna ask that?" Korra asked him in genuine disbelief.

"What? It's a serious question." Mako said defensively.

Lapis sighed, "I'm alright I suppose. Just waiting to hear an explanation for what's going on." she said.

"Well, I suppose we should get to that as I need a bit of catching up myself." Suyin said, "Before then, after all that would any of you want something to drink, we might be here for a while."

Lapis tilted her head a bit, "What do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean by what?" Suyin asked.

"What do you mean by something to 'drink'?"

Suyin and the other humans save for Steven and Connie looked quite confused at this question and Lapis was grateful when Steven jumped in, "Oh right umm, Gems don't need to eat or drink, actually, I think only the Crystal Gems know how." he explained. Lapis made a mental note to ask him what exactly eating and drinking were later.

"Alright so I suppose that's a no for Lapis then, anyone else?" Suyin asked but there were head shakes all around. "Then we can get started then. Steven, Connie, I know you've likely told this story plenty of times by now but can you tell it again please?"

"Right right." Steven nodded, "Well, it all started about a week ago….."

* * *

By the time the two had finished their story, Lapis really didn't know what to think. She'd remained silent throughout their tale and once it was finished she was just trying to wrap her head around it all. Even back when she'd lived on Homeworld all those millennia ago she'd known about their tests regarding the possibilities of alternate worlds but she'd honestly never imagined it to be true, much less that she'd ever find herself in one.

"So umm, yeah that's, that's the gist of all that's happened so far…" Connie said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Then, you still have no idea where Jasper is?" Lapis asked, something she'd been wondering since the warrior gem had been brought up.

"No I'm afraid. My sister has had multiple parties searching around Republic City where she escaped but they haven't found any sign of her whatsoever." Suyin explained. Lapis making a mental note to ask Steven what a 'sister' was as well as that and similar terms had been brought up a few times as well.

"And given that the traitor she mentioned from when we last saw her, it could very well explain that. Having someone on the inside would make it much easier for her to hide out." Asami added but had barely finished her sentence by the time Lapis chimed in again.

"Or much easier for her to have followed you here?" she asked, possibilities of Jasper attacking at any moment running through her head.

"We've already considered that." Suyin said.

"And so far we haven't seen any sign of her. Even if the traitor knows our location, at least for now Jasper isn't close to getting here and if and when she does we'll be ready." Korra said.

Lapis still wasn't happy with these answers as she pressed on, "And what about this traitor, do you know who they are yet? Any information on them?"

Suyin shook her head, "No, like Jasper's location we are at a loss as to who they are but the police in Republic city are hard at work trying to find out. Right now, all we can do is wait but Zaofu has to be the safest place for you three to be, so try not to worry."

"I'm not worried about myself." Lapis said as she got to her feet, "I'm worried about Steven. Jasper will go out of her way to find him and I don't even want to imagine what she'd do if she did. Especially after all that time we spent as Malachite."

"We won't let that happen so please try to trust us here." Korra pushed.

"That's still a bit hard given that I only just met you."

Steven stood up now next to her, "Well, you trusted me after we met? And besides they're really cool I mean they've gotten us all this way."

"That was different." Lapis sighed as she looked at Steven, not quite expecting the pleading look that he gave her. "Steven, one of them could be the traitor."

"If one of them was the traitor I think that Jasper would have found us by now." Connie pointed out.

"See?" Steven asked her, "At least give them a chance, if worse comes to worse I'm sure you could get us out of here no problem."

Lapis looked at him and sighed, she couldn't see herself getting much further in this argument so for now, she nodded, "Don't think I won't be watching you though." she said.

"Understandable." Korra agreed, "If we were in your place I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way about the situation. But we will still do our best to help you three out as much as we can."

"Thanks." Lapis responded.

"Now that that's all settled, Team Avatar I'd like to talk to you four about something, is that okay?" Suyin asked as she looked to the team, the four of them nodding, "Great, Lapis, Steven, Connie, we'll be back soon though in the meantime feel free to explore the city. I know how bad you've wanted to do that since you got here."

Steven nodded excitedly, "Sounds like a plan Stan."

"Isn't her name Suyin?" Lapis asked, resulting in a few chuckles around the room, "What?"

"Nevermind." Steven smiled, "But come on, you didn't get to see all the cool stuff that we passed when we got here." he said, grabbing Lapis and Connie wrist, "And I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other cool things here too! See you guys later!" he called out to Team Avatar and Suyin as he lead his friends outside.

"See you later!" Bolin called back.

Once they were out, Lapis glanced around the area, finally having a moment to take it in but not enough time to get her thoughts in order as Steven and Connie excitedly talked about which place would be the best to visit first in the city. They could handle that on their own for now, she just needed some alone time. Sharing a mind with Jasper had been exhausting and reforming to a situation like this, wasn't helping any. "You guys go on ahead." she said, her wings forming from her gem.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Connie asked.

Lapis shook her head, "Not right now, I have a lot to think about and I think I need to be alone for that." she noticed Steven's disappointed expression, "Don't worry, I'm not going away for long." she assured him.

"Oh alright, are you sure? I mean you just got back." Steven said.

"I'm sure." she said, "I'll see you then." she didn't even need to take a running start as her wings effortlessly took her off into the air as she flew away.

* * *

Steven watched the sky where Lapis had been for a few moments after she had already vanished from sight, "See you later." he said, mostly to himself since she was long out of earshot.

"Will she really be back?" Connie asked.

"She should be I mean she said she would. Besides, we're all here in this place together so I think if we want to get home we need to stick together." he answered, "I'm pretty sure she knows that but it must be really hard for her to reform to all of this at once. Like she said, she just needs time to think, I just hope she isn't gone too long. It seems like we're only able to talk when something big happens."

"Well maybe when we all get back home that won't be the case." Connie said.

"I really hope so, then all three of us could be Beach Summer Fun Buddies." he sighed, "But, anyways, do you still want to look around?"

She nodded, "Of course I do! Actually I was hoping we could check the library Korra mentioned, though that would probably take the longest so maybe we could save it for last."

"Whichever you want, I'm pretty sure we're going to be here a little while so there's probably plenty of time."

"Then, to the library!" she announced, and Steven couldn't help but share in her excitement even if he still felt a pang of disappointment at the fact that Lapis wouldn't be joining them.

* * *

"So what is it?" Korra asked once the group of three had left, "Is something wrong?"

Suyin shook her head, "No, I just needed to check with you four. You're planning on heading out soon correct?"

"Yeah, just as soon as everyone was rested." Asami nodded, "Why do you ask?"

"It's well, I wanted to ask what was going to happen to those kids and their friend, heading out fighting again is too dangerous for them."

Korra nodded, "Well, actually I wanted to ask if they'd be okay to stay in Zaofu for that reason. If Jasper does find them I think they'd be safer here than anywhere else"

"That would be fine, I was planning on suggesting it anyways." Suyin said, "They'll be welcome here until you can focus more on getting them home."

"Thank you." Korra said, "But while we're all here there's something else I had been meaning to bring up and this seems like as good a time as any. I've noticed, and I'm sure you guys have too that Kuvira's supporters have been more, organized, than before."

"Yeah that's a great point Korra." Bolin said as he jumped into the conversation, "Actually, when they all attacked the airship, there were too many for them to have just 'been there' coincidentally. They had to have known we were coming even before any of them could have seen you guys at that village."

"Could it have anything to do with the traitor Jasper mentioned?" Mako wondered, "Because if that's the case then they would have to have some power over the supporters for them to have gathered like that."

"Actually, that's what I was going to bring up next." Korra said, "I'm pretty sure that the supporters have formed their own group with a leader, the traitor has to be high up in their ranks to know so much."

"Or low enough that they'd be able to find information on us without being recognized as part of the group." Asami added. "Not to mention, they'd have to have someone who'd know where we were in the first place but so far the only ones who would know that are us, Tenzin and his family, and Chief Beifong."

"And likely one or two of the higher ups in the metalbending police." Suyin spoke up, after taking a moment to think on that last fact, "Excuse me but I'll be right back. I'm going to radio my sister, if she hasn't realized this possibility yet it wouldn't hurt for her to look into it." she said before leaving.

She wasn't gone long, well, long enough to get through to Lin by radio at least, and was soon walking in once more, "What did she say?" Korra quickly asked.

"Well, she'd already begun suspecting as much and is having her own officers questioned as we speak. For now though, all we can do is wait." Suyin answered.

"You don't actually think it could be one of the officers do you?" Mako asked, "Sure speaking from experience some of them aren't the best guys out there but to really betray us like that?"

"I thought the same about Aiwei but we saw how that went." Suyin said glumly, "But either way, no use worrying about it for now."

"Soo, what should we do now then?" Bolin asked.

"Since there's nothing else to do, perhaps just try and relax for now, we're not being attacked and until we hear again from my sister I don't think it's a good idea for you to head out and start traveling again just yet. Besides, who knows how long this relative peace will last, it wouldn't hurt to enjoy it while it's here."

* * *

The ocean waves rolled calmly outside the temple, the moon was clear and bright in the sky though few stars could be seen. Inside, the beach house felt unnaturally quiet to Pearl who sat next to Steven's bed, glancing to it every so often as if somehow doing so would bring him back. It had been a week since his and Connie's disappearance and so far they had still made no progress in finding them.

She was growing hopeless by this point, and she didn't doubt that the rest of the Crystal Gems were beginning to feel the same. Rose's departure was so recent in their minds, and now to lose Steven after they'd begun to really get to know him. The hurt felt so much worse this time around, at least with Rose they'd had time to come to terms with her not being around anymore, this time though, it had almost quite literally come out of nowhere.

What didn't help either was that a few days after they'd disappeared a message from Peridot had appeared on most every satellite and radio feed in the country trying in vain to contact Homeworld. They'd of course gone out to investigate at the Communication Hub, destroying it once more as a fusion between herself and Garnet.

It had been years since their last fusion together so even with circumstances being as they were she still felt a sense of joy and freedom at being Sardonyx once more. A part of her had even briefly considered rebuilding the hub, if only for the sake of having an excuse to fuse again but she couldn't justify wasting time on doing so while Steven was still missing.

Their search radius seemed to grow larger and larger with each dead end and while it perhaps did help them to search for Peridot at the same time, it was taking a strain on them emotionally and physically. Even she had found herself dozing off several times from the sheer exhaustion of searching so many places at once.

Right now, with the peace of the night, she could feel her eyes drooping closed, but quickly opened them as she heard the warp pad activate. Turning to look, she saw Garnet standing there. Pearl couldn't imagine what she was thinking as she walked down the warp pad.

"Any luck?" Pearl asked, her voice hoarse and already knowing the answer.

Sure enough, Garnet shook her head. "None." she answered, stoic as ever as she turned to walk towards the temple door.

Almost exactly as she'd done so, said door opened as Amethyst walked out as well, "Hey G-Squad." Amethyst nodded to her, her voice lacking its usual laid back attitude as she walked towards the kitchen, Garnet prepared to open her own door when the warp pad activated a second time.

The three gem's gazes turned towards the warp pad in surprise. As the light from the warp pad vanished, it left behind the gem they were looking for, or, at least one of them.

After a brief moment of hesitation, hoping by some miracle that it had been Steven to arrive, Pearl jumped from the loft upon realizing it was Peridot instead. She summoned her weapon, as did the other members of the Crystal gems as they charged towards the warp pad "Peridot!" they almost yelled in unison.

Peridot wasted no time in warping away again but the gems were right behind her, following her in the warp stream and being there a moment after they'd all been brought to the Galaxy Warp.

"What were you doing at the temple?!" Pearl demanded as she ran towards Peridot, Peridot producing a kind of tractor beam from her hands as she threw Pearl into one of the pillars surrounding the Galaxy Warp.

She slammed into it and created a sizeable dent but was back on her feet soon after.

"That is none of your business you clod!" she yelled, narrowly avoiding Amethyst's whip. "Now leave me alone!" she was making a run for another one of the warp pads.

Even though just about all the warppads were destroyed save for the one they'd used to arrive, Pearl didn't want her to run too far from them lest she try and fly away again like at the Kindergarten. Mentally measuring their distance between each other, she took a chance and threw her spear at the green gem, missing intentionally as it instead fell a step in front of Peridot.

Peridot, in her brief gloating at Pearl's 'missed' shot, didn't see where it had actually landed and tripped over the spear, falling flat on her face.

"Nice shot P!" Amethyst cheered as the Crystal Gems surrounded Peridot weapons drawn.

"Give it up, you have nowhere to go." Garnet said, cracking her knuckles. By now, Peridot was finally catching on that she was in real danger, jumping to her feet and trying to fire an attack from her hand at the fusion.

Pearl quickly summoned another spear to try and stop the attack but Garnet was ahead of her, grabbing Peridot's arm and aiming the cannon up so it fired at the sky instead.

Seeing the explosion that the weapon had caused, Pearl was glad to know it hadn't hit it's target. But also in looking up she'd noticed the night sky slowly filling with clouds.

"You Crystal Clods don't know what you're doing!" Peridot yelled as she tried to pull away from Garnet but had no such luck. In an attempt at freedom, she began flicking at Garnet's nose.

It didn't work.

"Let's get going." Pearl said, her spear vanishing in her hands as Garnet's gauntlets and Amethyst's whip did the same. She gave a sigh, relieved that at least this chapter in their lives was over and they could focus their attentions on finding Steven and Connie towards the warp pad, the darkening sky reminded her too much of how the sky looked when Steven and Connie were swept away. Behind her, she could hear Amethyst following as well along with Garnet who was dragging Peridot over too.

The waters around the Galaxy Warp were growing more restless as well, waves reaching the top where they stood which by all means in Pearl's mind should have been impossible provided how high up the Galaxy Warp was built.

"Oh what is it now?!" Peridot grumbled from behind her. Pearl turned around to see what had happened to find that Garnet had frozen in place and seemed to have drifted deep into thought.

"Garnet? Is something wrong?" Pearl asked.

"My future vision…" she said, still deep in thought as the waves continued to crash around them.

"Is it not working again?" Amethyst asked from beside Garnet, avoiding a few of Peridot's kicks.

Garnet shook her head, "It's not, which means…."

She didn't have time to finish her thought as a large wave approached, materializing almost out of nowhere, gaining speed faster than the gems could reach the warp pad and slamming into the Galaxy Warp. The force from the wave hitting them being strong enough to knock the gems off their feet in an attempt at dragging them into the ocean.

For now, that attempt didn't work as they were pushed towards the edge of the Galaxy Warp but not quite off of it, "Get to the warp pad!" Garnet yelled, rushing herself and Peridot to their feet.

Pearl and Amethyst didn't need to be told twice as they both did the same but not before a second wave hit, just as powerful as the first but with their new proximity to the edge, this time the group was pulled into the water below.

* * *

Amethyst, unlike the other gems of the team, actually rather enjoyed sleeping. If anything it was a good way to pass the time and avoid Pearl's scolding for doing something she probably shouldn't have. Though, she'd still get it from time to time because of sleeping ironically.

What she didn't like however, was being knocked out as almost always anything strong enough to knock a gem unconscious was usually enough to send them back to their gem to recharge.

This, was not one of those times as she found herself waking up, actually waking up not reforming, after being thrown into the ocean.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself from the grogginess and pain she felt. She tried to remember what had happened last and realized that Garnet and Pearl should have been there as well.

Propping herself up with her elbows, she looked around to find that her friends, along with Peridot, were all there, also completely KO'd She also found they were along a beach of sorts. Not the kind with a blazing sun and sandcastles, but instead one that stood next to icy water with snow as far as she could see further inland.

"Been awhile since we've been to the tundra. Cool." she said to herself, smirking a bit at her pun even if it wasn't one of her best.

"Yo! Garnet, P, wake up!" she shouted as she walked over to them. The two gems groaning as they tried to wake up, it was however hard to sleep through Amethyst's yelling.

"What on earth happened?" Pearl asked, rubbing her head as she tried to sit up.

"We were thrown into the ocean." Garnet answered, sitting straight up after a moment and getting back to her feet, glancing over at Peridot who seemed to be waking up as well.

"Yeah and now we're here, do we have any warp pads in the South Pole?" Amethyst asked.

Garnet nodded. "But I don't believe this is Earth's South Pole. The water wouldn't have carried us this far without sending us to our gems."

Pearl pushed herself to her feet as well, "Well, it certainly can't be another planet's South Pole, we were pulled into the ocean not sent into space."

Garnet didn't answer at first, "Let's take a look around to find out." she said as she lifted Peridot up from the ground, carrying her bridal style.

Amethyst nodded her head, "Well, I suppose it's either that or we could build a snowgem." she shrugged as they started to trudge through the snow behind Garnet. She was grateful that they didn't have to worry about the cold. If they were humans they'd probably freeze to death before finding civilization.

They didn't get very far before Peridot did wake up as well, jumping up and out of Garnet's arms a moment before the fusion could react, "Where're you gems taking me!?" she yelled angrily, aiming her blaster at the three who in turn summoned their own weapons, she was distracted a moment later as she realized just how different this place was,"Wait, where are we?" she wondered, clearly to herself as she tentatively stomped her foot into the snow again.

Taking advantage of Peridot's confusion, Amethyst swung her whip at her, missing when Peridot slipped on the snow and not getting a second chance as she activated her propeller fingers to make an attempt at escape again.

"You gems really don't know when to quit do you?!" she yelled at them, flying into the air as Pearl threw her spear at her, missing by a few inches. "I'll deal with you another day."

Pearl and Amethyst prepared to chase her but were stopped by Garnet putting a hand on their shoulders, "We'll catch her later, right now we need to find out where we are."

"But Peridot-" Amethyst began.

"We can catch her later." Garnet repeated.

"Garnet's right." Pearl said, her spear disappearing in her hands, " And we do need to find out exactly how far the Ocean Currents moved us, if we are at the South Pole it could be a long time before we find any indication of the sorts, provided that the only inhabitants are scientists and penguins, and their predators of course."

"The penguins or the scientists?" Amethyst asked with a smirk, walking behind Garnet as they got moving again.

* * *

 **There's the chapter! Again I am so sorry for how long it took quite a bit popped up these last few months, also thank you to my editor Honourboundfate.  
Speaking of the editor though:**

 **Letter from the Editor:**

 **I'm a lazy jerk face... :p**


	19. Chapter 19

**-Next Chapter Coming At Ya A-live!**

 **Well here it is, I am so sorry for the wait but allot has come up recently I'm afraid. Thankfully though since school is over I should have time to work on it this summer so yeah. Also I would like to say that the majority of this story was planned before the start of the Sardonyx Arc so keep that in mind ^^;  
-**

The "car" as Yuu had called it, was incredibly difficult to maneuver with Jasper's massive size. According to her informant though, it was Jasper's best bet as acquiring an airship would not have been easy, even for such a high ranking officer that Yuu was.

She hated it, any turn she attempted to make across the rough landscape was horribly exaggerated and breaking took a good hundred feet in order to succeed. Both factors a result of her weight and had she not realized sooner she may have ended up at the bottom of a gorge early in her journey.

One thing Jasper could get out of it though, was that at least now she could finally think with her thoughts being hers and hers alone. Being Malachite had been an experience, a dreadful one being trapped for as long as they had been under the sea. But yet, thinking back on it she felt like she almost missed it, missed the incredible power she and Lapis had held together during that time.

Actually, she wondered if upon meeting the blue gem again, perhaps she could convince her to fuse once more. They were both awful, but in a way they worked together. Jasper wondered if that was why their fusion was as powerful as it was.

"Jasper, come in Jasper." a voice broke Jasper from her thoughts and it took her a moment to remember where it was coming from. Glancing to the black rectangle to her side, she remembered Yuu had called it a 'radio', a primitive communication device, but all Jasper had to work with for the time being.

"Yeah, I'm here what is it?" she responded as she pressed the button on the 'radio' to answer.

"Good, I wanted to ask as to the status of your mission." Yuu's voice spoke from the other end, "It's been a good few hours I imagine you should be reaching the sector in which the Metal City is located soon."

"Even if I knew where I was there would be no way that I could tell you if I'm close or not until I actually see the thing." Jasper responded, more than a bit irked with having to work with this human in the first place, the feelings only worsened with how this Yuu treated her as one of her soldiers.

"Then I assume you will inform me when you can see the city?"

"I assume you should know by now I'm not taking orders from you. If I feel like there's a need to get you involved again, then I'll make the call." Jasper said.

There was an audible sigh on the other end, "All I am asking is that you have a plan, what do you expect to happen once you get there then? Zaofu is one of the largest military powers in the world."

"You'd said the same thing about Republic City and I got out of there no problem." Jasper replied. "I've trained millennia to handle armies much stronger than this."  
"Then it shouldn't be an issue informing me once you've completed your mission since it sounds like you'll have plenty of time anyways."  
Jasper groaned, "Fine!" she turned off the radio signal, relieved to be back to listening to the tires on the ground as opposed to the woman's persistent almost nagging tone.

She returned to her thoughts, now on Rose Quartz, a gem she imagined was with Lapis Lazuli now depending on whether or not she had yet to reform. Once she reached Zaofu, she would have allot of work to do no doubt but as she'd made clear to Yuu, she felt more than confident that she could handle it.

* * *

Yuu gave an exasperated sigh as their radio connection was broken and tossed the radio onto her desk. Jasper was quite possibly the most difficult person she had ever had to work with and being part of Republic City's police force that was saying a lot.

Breaking her out from their prison had been an endeavor requiring a good ten of her men to accomplish and even then she'd been worried they'd be caught before they could achieve it. Thankfully though, despite the gem's brashness she'd managed to get her out and to the city's outskirts. Due to her position in the metalbending police it hadn't been too difficult to find out the whereabouts of this 'Rose Quartz' and the rest of her group. She'd even been able to offer Jasper a flight straight to Zaofu but she'd refused, insisting that she felt better making her way there without the assistance of anyone else with the exception of course being the actual transportation she was given and how to use it.

Teaching Jasper how to use that transportation though, that, that was hell.

Taking a sip from her coffee, Yuu turned her attention back to the reports she'd received earlier in the day. Other than tips regarding Jasper's escape there wasn't really anything of interest there.

She heard a knocking at her door and looked up. "Come in."

An officer peaked his head inside, "Ma'am, Chief Beifong wants to speak to you."

"Now?"

"Yes ma'am." he nodded, "She said it was in regard to the escapee Jasper Quartz."

Of course it would be. "Tell her I'm on my way then." she answered as the officer left. She'd been hoping to work on something else today but if it came from the Chief she supposed she couldn't refuse.

As she walked through the halls, the tension in the air felt all too evident to her. Since very few people knew the true nature of Jasper it wasn't surprising that everyone would feel this anxious about her escape. She'd proven a challenge for Korra even when exhausted, who could imagine what she'd be capable of now that she'd had time to recuperate.

Yuu found their worrying hilarious, Jasper had no interest in Republic City and she was long gone by now, not like she was planning on telling anyone that of course.

"Chief Beifong, you asked to see me?" she asked, entering the Chief's office similarly to how the officer had entered her own.

"Yes Yuu, thank you for arriving so quickly." she began, "I take it that Yin informed you of what I wanted to see you about?"

She nodded, "About Jasper correct, has there been any new information regarding her whereabouts?"

"Nothing reliable." Lin replied, "Mostly just paranoid citizens who believe every other spirit they see walking about is her. Considering that we haven't seen the path of destruction that seems to follow her in the city though I'm almost certain that she's left the city to find Steven and his friend."

"We already knew that much though when we first met her." Yuu said.

"We don't know however if she has any idea where they are. Which is why I would like you to head to Zaofu yourself along with several of our officers. My sister has assured me that security is at its highest but I will feel more comfortable knowing that some of my own officers are there as well do you understand."

Yuu saluted, "Yes ma'am, do you have any officers in particular that you would like me to bring as well?" she asked.

"No, I trust your judgement. Just make sure you're headed out by first light tomorrow." she said, "I expect you to keep an eye out for Jasper as you make your way there as well and to report to me when you do find her."

Yuu nodded, leaving a moment after and within the next three hours, was ready to go, bringing along three other officers with her. Being sent to Zaofu was a bit of an unexpected turn of events, she'd been hoping to keep an eye on Jasper from afar but she supposed she would have to rework a few of her plans.

But since the Chief had allowed her to choose which officers she brought along, she was able to select fellow Kuvira supporters and she planned to meet with a few more along the way.

En route to Zaofu, looking at the map she figured it was likely they'd have time to stop at one of Kuvira's old factories, a factory which Yuu had repurposed for something a bit more... modern.

She picked up her radio, hoping she would hear something from the other end, "Hello, it's me, I'd like you to make a slight detour from your route to Zaofu."

* * *

Pearl had to admit, wherever they were she found that she rather enjoyed it. The desert of ice was peaceful in comparison to the constant background noise that accompanied Beach City. While she'd gotten used to Beach City and all it's quirks, she felt that this place was in a way, much more her style. Neat, clean, and quiet.

"Hey P, look I'm a penguin!"

Well almost quiet. "Amethyst this is not the time for goofing around we still don't know where we are." Pearl sighed, turning around to look at the purple gem who sure enough perfectly resembled a penguin.

"There's nothing around for hours." Amethyst said, shifting back to her normal self, "And we haven't even seen any actual penguins so-"

"That doesn't mean you need to turn into one yourself." Pearl shook her head, "Garnet, any luck figuring out where we are?"

She shook her head, "No but-" she didn't finish her answer as she reached and grabbed Pearl's arm, pulling her to the side to avoid stepping into a patch of ice that was a moment from cracking.

"Thanks." Pearl said, "But that's highly unusual, the ice felt very solid a moment ago, there's no reason for it to have just split like that."

Garnet didn't answer her as she pulled Amethyst from another crack on the opposite side. "Oooh, I think we might have company." Amethyst realized as she summoned her whip. Once Garnet had summoned her gauntlets as well though, Pearl realized Amethyst was most likely right.

"Stay together." Garnet said, another crack forming and setting them on an isolated piece of ice.

Pearl had her spear ready to attack, expecting something of great concern to show up, half expecting to see a corrupted gem from the apparent powers attributed to the entity.  
In a few more moments though, she was surprised to see not a monster but what appeared to be an elderly woman, also in a fighting stance as she approached them.

The gems lowered their weapons as they saw the woman, she seemed to lower her fighting stance as well, "Who are you?" the woman asked, Pearl noticed that around them the ice was reforming in the cracks in time with the woman's movements.

"We're the Crystal Gems." Garnet said.

Pearl didn't expect the woman to recognize what that name meant of course, as even in Beach City few people knew the extent of the group. And yet she saw recognition in the woman's blue eyes.

"Then you must be Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl correct?" she asked, "Yes you must be surprised that I know who you are." the woman laughed, "We can talk about why later though, let's get you three out of the cold first."

Pearl and the other two Gems looked to one another a bit unsure of what to do, "I'm sorry but...who are you?"

The woman smiled, "My name is Katara of the Southern Water Tribe." she answered. "And I believe I know who it is you've been searching for." 

* * *

**Thanks again for reading and to my editor Honourboundfate!**


End file.
